BHBBi 


MCCLURE 


:.;.;•:.: •       Hi  •    . 


ii 


t 


A.    K.    McCLURE 


OUR     PRESIDENTS 


AND 


HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


BY 


A.  K.  McCLURE,  LL.D. 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW   YORK   AND   LONDON 
HARPER  &   BROTHERS   PUBLISHERS 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


A.    K.    MCCLURE Frontispiece 

GEORGE    WASHINGTON Facing  p.    XX 

JOHN    ADAMS *2 

THOMAS    JEFFERSON 2O 

JAMES    MADISON 24 

JAMES    MONROE 32 

JOHN    QUINCY    ADAMS 38 

ANDREW    JACKSON 46 

MARTIN    VAN    BUREN 58 

WILLIAM    HENRY    HARRISON 64 

JOHN    TYLER 7<3 

JAMES    K.    POLK 74 

ZACHARY    TAYLOR        94 

MILLARD    FILLMORE           106 

FRANKLIN    PIERCE 114 

JAMES    BUCHANAN 130 

ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 154 

ANDREW    JOHNSON 182 

ULYSSES    S.    GRANT "          2O2 

RUTHERFORD    B.    HAYES       .       .       .       r 244 

JAMES    A.    GARFIELD "          270 

CHESTER    A.    ARTHUR 274 

GROVER    CLEVELAND        288 

BENJAMIN    HARRISON 316 

WILLIAM    MCKINLEY "          360 

THEODORE    ROOSEVELT       444 

WILLIAM    HOWARD    TAFT 478 


PREFACE 

I  HAVE  endeavored  in  this  volume  to  supply  a  want  in 
our  political  history  by  giving  not  only  a  detailed  and  reliable 
report  of  the  nomination  and  election  of  every  President  of 
the  United  States,  but  by  giving  with  it  many  important 
sidelights  relating  to  the  selection  and  character  of  our 
Chief  Magistrates. 

With  a  personal  knowledge  of  national  conventions  cover- 
ing over  half  a  century,  and  an  intimate  acquaintance  with 
the  chief  actors  of  both  parties  in  selecting  Presidential 
candidates,  I  am  able  to  give  the  inside  movements  of  some 
of  our  important  national  struggles  which  are  imperfectly 
understood.  The  inspiration  and  organization  of  all  the 
various  political  parties,  great  and  small,  are  concisely  pre- 
sented, and  the  personal  reminiscences  of  the  struggles  of 
the  great  men  of  the  country  have  been  most  carefully 
prepared. 

Absolute  accuracy  in  the  preparation  of  political  history 
covering  a  period  of  one  hundred  and  twelve  years  is  not 
to  be  expected,  as  record  evidence  is  at  times  either  imper- 
fectly preserved  or  entirely  destroyed;  but  no  pains  have 
been  spared  to  make  this  volume  a  complete  and  reliable 
history  of  our  Presidents  and  how  we  make  them. 

I  am  indebted  to  Edward  Stanwood's  "  History  of  Presi- 
dential Elections"  and  to  Greeley's  "  Political  Text-Book 
of  1860"  for  valuable  data  of  the  earlier  conflicts  for  the 
Presidency.  Many  of  the  personal  and  political  reminiscences 
given  are  an  elaboration  of  a  series  of  articles  originally 
prepared  for  the  Saturday  Evening  Post,  of  Philadelphia. 

A.  K.  M. 

PHILADELPHIA,  March  i,  1900. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION 

THE  demand  for  a  second  edition  of  this  work  presents 
the  opportunity  to  extend  its  pages  and  embrace  a  complete 
record  of  the  unusually  large  number  of  political  national 
conventions  which  presented  Presidential  candidates  and 
platforms  in  1900,  and  also  to  give  the  history  of  the  cam- 
paign and  the  official  popular  and  electoral  votes. 

Absolute  accuracy  in  presenting  a  detailed  political  history 
of  the  Republic  since  its  organization  is  not  possible,  and  the 
historian  who  gives  the  most  exhaustive  research  and  exer- 
cises the  utmost  care  will  be  liable  to  err.  In  many  instances 
what  are  accepted  as  historical  facts  are  wholly  dependent 
upon  tradition.  There  is  no  tangible  historical  record  to 
establish  or  refute  them,  and  many  have  been  gradually 
accepted  until  they  have  been  crystallized  into  history. 
A  pointed  illustration  of  this  is  furnished  in  the  fact  that  all 
of  the  many  historians  of  our  Presidential  contests  have 
explained  the  single  electoral  vote  against  President  Monroe 
in  1820,  as  inspired  by  the  sole  purpose  to  make  Washington 
stand  alone  as  the  only  President  who  was  chosen  by  the 
unanimous  vote  of  the  electoral  college.  I  accepted  this  as 
correct  because  all  the  political  histories  and  text  books  of 
modern  times  have  so  presented  it,  but  a  cloister  student 
friend  in  Boston,  who  revels  in  the  old  book  stores,  recently 
sent  me  a  large  volume  published  nearly  fifty  years  ago, 
giving  the  biography  and  public  services  of  William  Plumer 
of  New  Hampshire,  the  single  elector  who  voted  against 
Monroe's  reelection  in  1820.  Mr.  Plumer  had  been  State 
Representative,  Speaker,  Senator  and  Governor  and  served 
a  full  term  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  His 
biography  was  written  by  his  son,  William  Plumer,  Jr.,  who 

is 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

was  also  State  Representative  and  Senator  and  Congressman. 
In  this  work  the  author  presents  the  reasons  given  in  his 
father's  own  language  why  he  voted  against  Monroe  and  for 
John  Quincy  Adams.  It  was  not  a  matter  of  sentiment 
relating  to  Washington,  but  he  was  opposed  to  what  he 
regarded  as  a  most  profligate  system  of  public  expenditures 
that  had  grown  up  under  the  Monroe  administration,  and 
for  which  the  President  was  held  responsible.  It  was  for 
that  reason,  and  that  alone,  that  he  voted  against  Monroe, 
and  he  voted  for  Adams  because  he  believed  him  to  be  the 
best  equipped  man  for  President  of  the  United  States. 

There  are  many  political  facts  which  when  given  as  the 
surface  record  presents  them,  do  not  convey  the  precise 
truth  as  to  the  existing  conditions  or  as  to  results.  On 
page  366  I  gave  the  facts  as  I  personally  ascertained  them 
relating  to  the  adoption  of  the  gold  platform  in  the  Re- 
publican national  convention  of  St.  Louis  in  1896.  All  that 
I  have  stated  there  is  correct,  but  the  conclusion  that  would 
be  naturally  drawn  from  the  statements  may  be  erroneous. 
A  letter  from  Senator  Marcus  A.  Hanna  written  soon  after 
the  publication  of  the  first  edition  of  this  work,  informs  me 
that  he  took  to  the  St.  Louis  convention  tariff  and  financial 
planks  drawn  by  Mr.  McKinley  himself,  and  the  original  of 
these  planks  is  yet  in  the  possession  of  a  personal  friend. 
These  planks  were,  after  consultation,  rewritten  by  Solicitor 
General  J.  K.  Richards  without  material  change,  and  as  thus 
presented  were  accepted  by  the  convention  and  made  the 
platform  of  the  party  on  those  issues.  To  use  Mr.  Hanna's 
own  language :  "The  whole  thing  was  managed  to  succeed 
in  gettting  what  we  got,  and  that  was  my  only  interest." 
Mr.  Hanna  was  apparently  opposed  to  the  gold  plank  of  the 
platform.  He  was  so  regarded  because  he  had  adopted,  in 
his  State  convention  several  months  before,  a  platform  that 
straddled  the  financial  issue,  but  by  the  time  the  national 
convention  met,  conditions  had  so  changed  that  an  entirely 
sound  money  plank  was  an  absolute  necessity,  and  Senator 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION 

Hanna  simply  exhibited  masterly  diplomacy  in  bringing  the 
disputing  elements  of  the  party  into  harmonious  action. 
While  the  surface  record  appears  as  an  admonition  or  a 
defeat  for  Senator  Hanna,  I  have  every  reason  to  believe  that 
it  produced  the  precise  result  he  was  seeking  to  obtain  at 
St.  Louis. 

Since  the  first  edition  of  this  work  was  issued  I  have  very 
carefully  studied  the  confused  and  conflicting  election  tables 
giving  the  results  of  our  nation  contests.  There  is  no 
dispute  as  to  the  electoral  vote  in  any  of  our  Presidential 
struggles,  but  I.  have  at  hand  a  dozen  or  more  complete 
popular  election  tables  giving  the  full  votes  for  President 
since  electors  were  chosen  by  a  direct  vote  of  the  people. 
No  two  of  them  agree  and  there  is  no  way  in  which 
absolutely  accurate  election  tables  may  be  obtained.  The 
latest  compilation  of  our  national  election  tables  may  be 
found  in  a  volume  recently  prepared  by  Thomas  Hudson 
McKee,  entitled  "National  Conventions  and  Platforms." 
It  is  a  compact,  convenient  and  complete  hand  book  giving 
the  date  and  place  of  every  Congressional  caucus  and 
national  convention  which  nominated  Presidential  candi- 
dates, without  criticism  or  elaboration  by  the  author.  I  have 
found  the  tables  of  this  work  to  be  as  nearly  accurate  as 
I  could  present  them,  and  with  the  kind  permission  of  the 
author  and  the  publishers  I  have  adopted  them  in  this 
edition.  These  variations  in  the  popular  vote  for  President 
are  not  vitally  material,  as  in  all  the  conflicting  tables  given 
the  result  is  not  changed  in  a  single  State,  but  the  student 
of  our  political  history  naturally  desires  to  have  the  records 
of  our  national  contests  presented  with  the  greatest  possible 
approach  to  accuracy. 

There  is  some  dispute  in  the  various  political  text  books 
and  histories  of  our  national  political  contests  as  to  the  plat- 
forms presented  by  the  different  parties.  I  find  in  one  of 
these  works  what  purports  to  be  the  platform  of  the  Re- 
publicans adopted  in  1800,  when  Jefferson  made  his  success- 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

ful  fight  against  the  elder  Adams.  This  platform  expresses 
the  views  of  the  Republicans  of  that  day  very  clearly  and 
forcefully,  but  it  was  certainly  only  a  declaration  of  political 
principles  written  by  Jefferson  or  by  some  one  of  his  promi- 
nent supporters  and  never  presented  to,  or  adopted  by,  any 
convention  or  caucus.  Both  parties  held  Congressional 
caucuses  in  secret  in  1800,  but  neither  formally  nominated 
candidates  for  President  or  made  any  formal  declaration  of 
principles.  In  another  I  find  what  purports  to  be  a  platform 
adopted  by  the  Whigs  in  the  national  convention  of  1848 
that  nominated  Taylor  for  President.  No  platform  was 
adopted  by  that  convention,  but  what  has  been  given  as  the 
platform  may  be  accepted  as  a  declaration  of  principles  by 
the  party  that  nominated  Taylor,  as  it  was  adopted  by  a  mass 
meeting  held  in  Philadelphia  immediately  after  the  adjourn- 
ment of  the  convention,  and  in  which  many  of  the  delegates 
of  the  convention  participated.  The  first  national  platform 
formally  presented  by  a  political  convention  was  adopted  by 
the  Democratic  national  convention  of  1840,  when  Van 
Buren  and  Johnson  were  nominated  for  re-election.  Prior 
to  1840,  it  was  common  for  national  conventions  to  issue 
an  elaborate  address  to  the  people.  All  the  political  plat- 
forms adopted  by  the  various  national  conventions  held  in 
this  country  are  correctly  given  in  this  volume. 

There  will  doubtless  be  errors  detected  in  the  revised 
edition  of  this  work,  but  no  author  has  exercised  greater 
care  to  attain  complete  accuracy  than  I  have  given  to  make 
it  a  full  and  reliable  text  book  for  the  student  of  the  national 
political  conflicts  of  the  Republic, 

A.  K.  M. 
October  i,  ipoi. 


PREFACE   TO   THE   THIRD    EDITION 

COLONEL  McCLURE  had  completed  his  account  of  the 
contest  for  the  Presidency  in  1908,  and  he  had  prepared 
the  other  additions  to  the  present  issue  of  his  book  before 
his  lamented  death.  But  it  is  left  to  another  hand  to 
record  the  character  of  the  new  features  included  in  the 
third  edition  of  this  standard  work. 

With  his  wonted  discrimination,  Colonel  McClure  presents 
a  history  of  the  remarkable  campaign  of  1908,  which  is 
concise  and  yet  remarkably  comprehensive  and  illuminat- 
ing. The  platforms  of  the  leading  parties  are  given  in  full, 
together  with  adequate  summaries  of  the  declarations 
made  by  the  minor  parties.  There  are  brief  accounts  of 
the  conventions  and  of  the  salient  features  of  the  cam- 
paign, closing  with  tables  of  the  popular  and  electoral 
votes.  Elsewhere  the  Congressional  tables  have  been 
brought  down  to  include  the  Sixty-first  Congress,  and  the 
proper  additions  have  been  made  to  the  summary  of 
popular  votes.  The  assured  position  which  this  helpful 
and  informing  work  has  acquired  renders  it  certain  that 
this  new  and  enlarged  edition  will  receive  a  welcome  which 
would  have  been  peculiarly  gratifying  to  the  distinguished 
author. 


INTRODUCTION 


THE  crux  of  American  politics  is  the  quadrennial  elec- 
tion of  President.  In  the  ebb  and  flow  of  our  political 
activity  the  flood-tide  comes  in  the  Presidential  contests. 
There  are  often  tumultuous  struggles  and  decisive  events 
in  the  intervals,  but  their  political  effect  and  all  the  issues 
and  movements  of  parties  crystallize  in  the  recurring  con- 
flict for  the  possession  of  the  chief  executive  power. 

Our  American  system  makes  the  President  the  centre 
and  focus  of  political  life.  He  is  at  once  Prime  Minister 
and  independent  executive.  He  blends  the  functions  of 
what  in  parliamentary  government  is  the  head  of  the, 
Cabinet,  and  what  in  other  government  is  the  head  of  the 
State.  He  is  a  vital  part  of  the  legislative  power  without 
being  amenable  to  its  control  or  dependent  on  its  life. 
He  is  the  framer  of  policies  and  the  arbiter  of  parties. 
All  this  makes  the  election  of  President  the  central  chord 
and  the  arterial  force  of  our  broad  political  action. 

The  history  of  Presidential  elections,  if  not  the  history 
of  the  nation,  is  at  least  the  history  of  its  determining 
periods.  The  successive  epochs  of  our  national  progress, 
with  their  passionate  struggles  and  controlling  influences, 
are  fully  reflected  in  these  contests.  After  the  retirement 
of  Washington  the  battles  from  1800  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  which  gave  the  succession  of  Jefferson,  Madison, 
and  Monroe,  marked  the  reaction  from  federal  authority 
and  the  rise  of  the  democratic  impulse  in  the  young 
Republic.  Then  came  the  period  running  through  the 
three  contests  and  two  elections  of  Jackson,  the  heirship  of 

XV 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

Van  Buren,  and  the  cyclonic  reversal  under  "Tippecanoe 
and  Tyler  too"  in  1840,  which  turned  on  practical  ques- 
tions of  internal  polity  and  signalized  the  transition  from 
the  formative  stage  of  the  government  to  the  inevitable 
clash  between  the  sections.  This  was  followed  by  the 
long  political  and  moral  contention  between  freedom  and 
slavery,  which  began  with  the  success  of  Polk  and  the 
Texas  annexation  policy  in  1844  and  ended  with  the 
defeat  of  the  divided  Democracy  and  the  election  of 
Lincoln  in  1860,  when  the  political  combat  culminated 
in  the  armed  and  colossal  struggle  of  the  civil  war.  Since 
its  conclusion  and  its  settlements  the  nation  has  been 
engaged  in  the  mighty  work  of  internal  upbuilding,  never 
equalled  anywhere  else  in  the  world,  and  the  elections 
have  involved  the  contending  theories. 

The  narrative  of  these  elections,  with  the  rise  and  fall  of 
parties,  their  divisions  and  their  creeds,  presents  the  out- 
lines of  the  national  development.  For  this  work  Colonel 
McClure,  by  experience,  taste,  and  special  knowledge,  is 
peculiarly  and  pre-eminently  fitted.  It  is  doubtful  if  any 
other  living  American  has  borne  so  active  and  so  intimate 
a  part  in  so  many  Presidential  elections.  Not  yet  of  age, 
but  already  a  zealous  and  eager  observer  of  political  move- 
ments as  a  young  editor,  he  attended  the  Whig  National 
Convention  of  1848  in  Philadelphia,  and  witnessed  the 
nomination  of  General  Taylor.  From  that  time  he  has 
been  personally  familiar  with  the  inner  workings  of  every 
national  convention  and  campaign.  Including  this  year, 
there  have  been  twenty-nine  Presidential  contests  in  our 
history.  Colonel  McClure  has  actively  participated  in  four- 
teen, or  practically  one-half  of  the  entire  number. 

He  was  born  at  Centre,  Perry  County,  Pennsylvania,  on 
the  Qth  of  January,  1828.  Spending  his  youth  on  his 
father's  farm,  he  became  a  tanner's  apprentice  at  fifteen, 
and  remained  at  this  trade  for  three  years.  His  schooling 
was  very  limited,  and  his  mental  equipment  was  almost 
wholly  the  rich  endowment  nature  had  given  him  and 

xvi 


INTRODUCTION 

the  attainments  which  his  extraordinary  intellectual  force 
brought  in  after-years.  At  nineteen  he  became  the  editor 
of  the  Juniata  Sentinel,  and  his  natural  ability  and  vigor- 
ous pen  soon  gave  him  a  recognized  position  and  a  dis- 
tinct influence.  Before  he  was  twenty-one  he  served  as  a 
conferee  for  Andrew  G.  Curtin  in  his  Congressional  can- 
didacy, and  laid  the  foundations  of  his  long  and  intimate 
friendship  with  the  great  War  Governor.  Speedily  called 
to  the  editorship  of  a  more  important  paper  at  Chambers- 
burg,  his  impress  broadened,  and  in  1853,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-five,  he  was  nominated  by  the  Whigs  for  Auditor- 
General,  the  youngest  man  ever  named  by  any  party  in 
Pennsylvania  for  a  State  office.  Four  years  later  he  was 
elected  to  the  Legislature,  serving  in  the  House  and  then 
in  the  Senate  for  several  years.  His  career  in  that  body 
was  brilliant  and  distinctive.  He  was  independent,  fear- 
less, and  aggressive,  a  ready  and  trenchant  debater,  and  he 
displayed  political  and  parliamentary  abilities  of  the  high- 
est order. 

In  the  Republican  National  Convention  of  1860  he 
played  a  prominent  part.  He  and  Curtin  were  potential 
in  leading  the  Pennsylvania  break  from  Cameron  to  Lin- 
coln, and  in  promoting  the  nomination  of  the  latter. 
With  that  success  he  accepted  the  chairmanship  of  the  > 
State  Committee,  and  made  a  dashing  and  energetic  cam- ' 
paign,  which  resulted  in  the  October  State  victory  that  as- 
sured and  portended  the  election  of  Lincoln.  This  rela- 
tion to  the  contest  and  subsequent  service  with  Governor 
Curtin,  in  directing  Pennsylvania's  part  in  the  war,  placed 
him  on  an  intimate  footing  with  the  President,  and  during 
those  dramatic  and  trying  years  he  was  a  commanding 
figure  in  the  State.  Later  he  settled  in  Philadelphia  in 
the  practice  of  the  law ;  became  one  of  the  leading  spirits 
in  the  Republican  revolt  of  1872  which  led  to  the  Greeley 
movement ;  returned  to  the  Legislature,  where,  free  from 
party  shackles,  he  waged  unsparing  war  against  jobbery 
and  wrong,  and  where  his  forensic  talent,  his  bold  attacks, 

xvii 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

and  rare  powers  of  invective  and  sarcasm  made  him  at 
once  respected  and  feared.  Finally,  he  found  what  was 
to  prove  his  higher  and  truer  place,  and  entered  upon 
what  was  to  be  his  main  life-work  in  the  establishment  of 
the  Philadelphia  Times,  where  he  has  had  an  ample  and 
conspicuous  arena  for  the  editorial  genius  which  has 
ranked  him  among  the  foremost  journalists  of  the  coun- 
try. Here,  for  twenty-five  years,  with  ripened  experience 
and  mellowed  spirit,  but  with  unabated  passion  for  politi- 
cal movements,  Colonel  McClure  has  been  both  the  actor 
and  the  critic  in  the  great  and  constantly  changing  drama 
of  public  events.  Standing  between  both  parties,  bound 
by  neither,  but  in  the  counsels  of  each,  he  has  been  ex- 
ceptionally informed  on  all  the  currents  of  political  activ- 
ity. No  one  has  had  a  broader  acquaintance  with  the 
public  men  of  his  time,  or  has  been  more  thoroughly  be- 
hind the  scenes  in  the  shifting  transformations  of  public 
action.  From  his  earliest  years  politics  has  had  an  ex- 
traordinary fascination  for  his  fertile  mind,  and  his  taste 
and  talent  for  it  have  been  equally  marked.  There  has 
been  no  national  convention  of  either  party  for  years  that 
he  has  not  attended,  and  the  episodes  and  influences 
which  have  turned  the  decision  of  the  hour  have  been  as 
familiar  to  him  as  the  broader  principles  which  have 
moulded  the  general  course  of  action. 

Colonel  McClure  is  thus  peculiarly  qualified,  not  only 
to  present  the  large  history  of  Presidential  contests,  but 
to  illuminate  it  with  the  instructive  side-lights  which  are 
as  entertaining  as  they  are  suggestive.  Comprehensive 
in  its  treatment,  infused  with  the  very  life  and  spirit  of 
political  action,  prepared  with  complete  knowledge,  and 
written  in  a  style  of  singular  charm  and  force,  this  work 
is  not  only  a  labor  of  love,  but  a  valuable  contribution  to 
the  historical  literature  of  American  politics. 

CHARLES  EMORY  SMITH 

WASHINGTON,  April,  1900 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 


AND 


HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON 


THE  WASHINGTON  ELECTIONS 

1789-1792 


THE  first  election  for  President  of  the  United  States  was 
held  on  the  first  Wednesday  of  January,  1789,  and  it  was  an 
election  in  which  the  people  took  no  part  whatever  in  most 
of  the  States.  The  election  should  have  been  held  in 
November,  1788,  but  the  Constitution  of  1787,  that  required 
ratification  by  nine  States  to  make  it  the  supreme  law  of  the 
nation,  did  not  receive  the  approval  of  the  requisite  number 
of  States  until  the  2ist  of  June,  1788,  when  New  Hampshire 
made  up  the  ninth  State  approving  it.  Virginia  followed 
four  days  later,  and  New  York,  after  a  bitter  struggle,  ratified 
the  Constitution  on  the  26th  of  July.  There  was  then  ample 
time  for  Congress  to  make  provisions  for  a  Presidential 
election  in  November,  but  many  weeks  were  wasted  in  a 
struggle  for  the  location  of  the  national  capitol,  and  it  was 
not  until  the  I3th  of  September  that  Congress  was  prepared 
to  pass  a  resolution  declaring  the  ratification  of  the  Con- 
stitution, and  directing  the  election  of  Presidential  electors. 

Communication  was  at  that  time  very  slow  and  uncertain 
between  the  several  States,  and  as  Congress  did  not  fix  the 
time  for  an  election  until  the  middle  of  September,  the  first 
Wednesday  of  January,  1789,  was  deemed  the  earliest  period 
at  which  an  election  could  be  had.  Considering  the  length 
of  time  required  to  communicate  with  the  different  States, 
and  the  extreme  difficulty  in  the  States  communicating  with 
their  people  and  Legislatures,  it  was  practically  impossible 
to  have  a  Presidential  election  in  which  the  people  of  the 
country  generally  could  participate. 

None  of  the  States  had  made  any  preparation  for  an  elec- 
tion, and  the  only  practical  method  for  choosing  electors  was 
by  the  Legislatures,  as  the  Constitution  provided  then,  as  it 
does  now,  that  each  State  shall  appoint  Presidential  electors 

I 


SCrtlR   PRESIDENTS 

"  in  such  manner  as  its  Legislature  may  direct."    Attempts 
were  made  to  hold  popular  elections  in  New  Hampshire, 

I  Massachusetts,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  Virginia,  but 

1  even  in  New  Hampshire  and  Massachusetts,  after  elections 
had  been  held  after  a  fashion,  the  Legislatures  of  those 

>  States  finally  chose  the  electors.  There  were  next  to  no 
votes  cast  in  Pennsylvania,*  Maryland,  and  Virginia,  as 
there  was  no  contest,  the  election  of  Washington  being 
conceded  by  all ;  and  whatever  votes  were  cast  in  the  States 
have  never  found  their  way  into  the  political  statistics  of 
the  country.  Rhode  Island  and  North  Carolina  had  not 
ratified  the  Constitution  and  did  not  choose  electors,  and 
in  New  York  a  bitter  contest  arose  in  the  Legislature 
between  the  friends  and  opponents  of  the  Constitution, 
resulting  in  a  disagreement  between  the  Senate  and  House 
that  was  not  adjusted  in  time  for  the  Legislature  to  choose 
electors.  Thus,  New  York,  Rhode  Island,  and  North  Carolina 
gave  no  votes  for  President  in  the  Electoral  College  of  1789. 
There  had  been  no  formal  nomination  of  Washington  for 

/  President  and  Adams  for  Vice-President  in  any  part  of  the 
country.  In  later  Presidential  elections  it  was  common  for 

^  Legislatures  and  mass-meetings  to  present  candidates  for 
President,  but  I  cannot  find  a  record  of  any  formal  presenta- 
tion of  either  the  name  of  Washington  or  Adams  as  candi- 
dates at  the  first  Presidential  election.  Washington  was 
accepted  as  the  logical  ruler  of  the  Republic,  whose  sword 
had  won  its  independence,  and  Massachusetts,  the  State  of 
Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill,  was  conceded  the  second  place 
on  the  ticket  by  general  assent.  Both  were  pronounced 
Federalists,  and  Washington  was  much  more  positive  in 
his  partisanship  than  is  now  generally  believed.  He  was 
consulted  about  the  choice  of  a  Vice-President,  and  he 
answered  that  while  he  took  it  for  granted  that  "  a  true 
Federalist "  would  be  elected  to  the  Vice-Presidency,  he 
was  unwilling  to  indicate  any  preference ;  but  it  was  gener- 
ally known  that  he  and  his  immediate  friends  preferred 
John  Adams,  who  had  been  one  of  the  committee  with 
Jefferson  to  prepare  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and 
who  had  written  a  very  vigorous  pamphlet  in  favor  of  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution. 

It  is  now  generally  assumed  that  there  was  no  shade  of 

"Imperfect  returns  at  Harrisburg  show  5930  votes  cast  in  Pennsyl- 
vania for  Washington  in  1789  and  4576  in  1792. 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


opposition  to  Washington's  election  to  the  Presidency,  but 
the  anti-Federalists,  many  of  whom  were  opposed  to  the 
Constitution,  made  several  ineffectual  efforts  to  defeat  him. 
It  is  known  that  Franklin  was  approached  on  the  question 
of  being  Washington's  competitor,  but  there  is  little  doubt 
that  he  peremptorily  refused.    At  that  time  the  PresidentialX 
electors  did  not  vote  directly  for  President  and  Vice-Presi-  j 
dent  as  they  do  now.    Each  elector  voted  for  two  men  for  I 
President,  both  of  whom  could  not  be  a  resident  of  the  same  | 
State,  and  the  candidate  receiving  the  largest  vote,  if  a 
majority,  was  chosen  President,  and  the  candidate  receiving 
the  second  largest  vote  for  President  became  Vice-President  J 
Several  movements  were  made,  without  ever  attaining  the 
dignity  of  importance,  to  have  votes  quietly  taken   from 
Washington  and  given  to  Adams,  and  other  movements 
were  made  to  defeat  Adams  for  Vice-President,  but  all  of 
them  were  signal  failures.    It  is  understood  that  Hamilton, 
the  closest  friend  of  Washington,  was  not  friendly  to  Adams. 
There  is  some  reason  to  believe  that  he  would  have  seconded 
the  movement  of  the  anti-Federalists  to  make  George  Clinton 
Vice-President  had  it  given  any  promise  of  success. 

The  electoral  colleges  met  on  the  first  Wednesday  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1789,  and  elected  Washington  President,  he  receiving 
69  votes,  being  the  full  number  of  electors,  and  John  Adams 
received  34  votes  for  President,  which  made  him  Vice- 
President,  although  he  did  not  receive  a  majority  of  the 
electoral  votes.  The  following  table  shows  the  vote  in  detail 
as  cast  by  the  Electoral  College,  all  of  the  men  having  been 
voted  for  only  as  Presidential  candidates : 


d 
o 

bo 

| 

d 

« 

c 

5 

8 

bo 

H"S 

"o 

c 

• 

C 

-0 

-& 

£  . 

^ 

o 

^Si 

uT 

•* 

tJ-o 

X  3 

o  *~^ 

h 

a 

o 

STATES. 

•*  rt 

*1 

4>.iJ 

8*0 
o 

John  \d;mis 
of  Massach 

£ 
$8 

j£ 

Robert  H.  Hi 
of  Marylan 

John  Rutledg 
of  South  Ce 

John  Hancoc 
of  Massach 

& 
K 

a,  o 
O 

Samuel  Hum 
of  Connecti 

John  Milton, 
of  Georgia. 

James  Armst 
of  Georgia. 

Benjamin  Lii 
of  Massach 

Edward  Telf 
of  Georgia. 

Vacancies. 

No.  entitled  t 

7 

t; 

f. 

Q 

Q 

3 

Georgia  

5 



2 

1 

1 

1 

5 

Maryland  

6 



__ 

6 

__ 





__ 

2 

8 

10 

10 

10 

New  Hampshire. 

5 

5 

5 

OUR  PRESIDENTS 


ngton, 

I 

$ 

| 

d 
.S 

w 

1 

§ 

^ 

bO 
G 

5*2 

°  w 

. 

.2 

• 
> 

&  • 

_p 

fc-0 

Kn  rrt 

M% 

o*^ 

r,s 

cS 

0 

STATES. 

If 

John  Adams 
of  Massach 

$ 

Robert  H.  H 
of  Marylan 

John  Rutledj 
of  South  C 

John  Hancoc 
of  Massach 

sS 

4)  0 

o 

Samuel  Hun 
of  Connect 

John  Milton, 
of  Georgia 

James  Arms 
of  Georgia 

Benjamin  Li 
of  Massach 

Edward  Telf 
of  Georgia 

Vacancies. 

No.  entitled 

New  Jersey  
Pennsylvania.  .  .. 

6 

10 

1 

8 

J 

—  • 

— 

2 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

6 

10 

South  Carolina.  . 

7 







6 

1 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

7 

Virginia 

10 

5 

1 

1 

8 









2 

12 

Total  

69 

84 

9 

6 

6 

4 

8 

2 

2 

1 

1 

1 

4 

78 

The  Congress  of  the  Confederation  had  provided  that  the 
lew  Congress  chosen  under  the  Constitution  should  meet 
in  New  York  on  the  first  Wednesday  of  March  to  declare 
ic  result  of  the  Presidential  election  and  inaugurate  the  new 
Republic,  but  a  quorum  of  the  Senate  did  not  appear  until 
the  6th  of  April,  and  on  that  day  the  electoral  vote  was 
counted  in  the  presence  of  the  two  Houses,  and  Washington 
/and  Adams  declared  elected.     They  were  notified  of  their 
(  election  as  speedily  as  possible,  but  it  was  not  until  the  3Oth 
of  April  that  they  were  inaugurated. 

Washington's  second  election  was  quite  as  unanimous  as 
the  first,  both  at  the  polls  and  in  the  electoral  colleges.  No 
opposition  electoral  tickets  were  formed  in  any  of  the  States, 
as  the  re-election  of  Washington  and  Adams  was  universally 
accepted.  The  Presidential  electors  of  that  day  were  ap- 
pointed in  accordance  with  the  obvious  spirit  of  the  Consti- 
tution, that  meant  to  provide  an  entirely  dispassionate  and 
independent  tribunal  in  the  Electoral  College  to  exercise  the 
soundest  discretion  in  the  choice  of  a  President  and  Vice- 
President.  No  pledges  were  asked  or  given  by  any  one 
named  as  an  elector,  and  each  one  was  free  to  vote  accord- 
ing to  the  dictates  of  his  own  judgment.  Had  there  been 
opposition  electoral  tickets,  they  would  have  logically  run 
on  opposing  lines  with  distinct  obligations  on  the  part  of 
each  side  as  to  how  their  votes  would  be  cast,  but  no  such 
question  arose  until  the  first  battle  between  Adams  and 
Jefferson  in  1796. 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

There  was  no  organized  opposition  to  the  administration 
of  Washington  at  the  close  of  his  first  term,  but  the  Demo- 
cratic sentiment,  so  ardently  cherished  by  Jefferson,  had 
been  steadily  growing,  and  with  two  such  able  and  aggres- 
sive opposing  partisans  as  Jefferson  and  Hamilton  in  the 
Washington  Cabinet,  it  was  only  natural  that  opposition  to 
the  Federal  policy  would  gradually  take  shape  to  be  effective 
when  the  overshadowing  personality  of  Washington  became 
eliminated  from  the  politics  of  the  country.  Jefferson  and 
Hamilton  often  had  serious  differences  in  the  Cabinet,  and 
Washington  uniformly  sided  with  Hamilton.  Washington 
had  little  personal  and  no  political  sympathy  whatever  with 
Jefferson,  and  only  one  of  Jefferson's  rare  tact  and  sagac- 
ity could  have  remained  in  the  Washington  Cabinet  and 
fashioned  the  great  opposition  party  that  carried  him 
triumphantly  into  the  Presidential  chair  four  years  after 
Washington's  retirement.  As  opposition  to  the  re-election 
of  Washington  and  Adams  would  have  been  entirely  fruit- 
less, it  was  not  wisely  attempted,  and  the  election  passed  off 
in  almost  as  perfunctory  a  manner  as  did  the  first  election 
in  1789. 

Rhode  Island  and  North  Carolina  had  ratified  the  Con- 
stitution, and  Vermont  became  a  State  on  the  4th  of  March, 
1791,  and  Kentucky  on  the  1st  of  June,  1792,  giving  fifteen 
States  to  participate  in  the  second  Presidential  election.  In 
nine  of  the  States  Presidential  electors  were  chosen  by  the 
Legislatures,  and  by  popular  vote  in  New  Hampshire,  Mas- 
sachusetts, Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  North  Carolina,  and 
Virginia,  but  there  were  very  few  votes  polled,  and  what 
were  cast  indicated  nothing  politically,  as  there  were  no  op- 
posing electoral  tickets. 

Washington  again  received  the  unanimous  vote  in  the 
electoral  colleges — 132  in  number — and  Adams  became  Vice- 
President  by  receiving  77  votes  for  President.  When  the 
two  Houses  met  to  declare  the  vote,  Vice-President  Adams 
presided  in  the  House,  opened  and  read  the  certificates  of 
the  votes  of  the  several  States,  and  declared  Washington  and 
himself  elected  President  and  Vice-President.  The  following 
is  the  official  vote  in  the  electoral  colleges  as  cast  in  1792: 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


STATES. 

George  Washington, 
of  Virginia. 

John  Adams, 
of  Massachusetts. 

George  Clinton, 
of  New  York. 

Thomas  Jefferson, 
of  Virginia. 

Aaron  Burr, 
of  New  York. 

Vacancies. 

No.  entitled  to  vote. 

9 

9 

9 

3 

3 

3 

4 

4 

_ 





4 

Kentucky 

4 

4 

4 

Maryland         .... 

8 

8 

2 

10 

Massachusetts    .   ... 

16 

16 

16 

New  Hampshire  
New  Jersey     

6 

7 

6 

7 

— 

— 

— 

— 

6 

7 

New  York       

12 

12 

12 

North  Carolina          . 

12 

12 

•12 

Pennsylvania  

15 

14 

1 





15 

Rhode  Island  

4 

4 

,  

__ 

m 

4 

South  Carolina. 

8 

7 

1 

8 

3 

3 





1 

4 

21 

21 





21 

Total        

132 

77 

50 

4 

1 

3 

135 

THE  ADAMS-JEFFERSON  CONTEST 

1796 


WHILE  it  was  generally  accepted  that  Washington  would 
not  be  a  candidate  for  a  third  term,  he  gave  no  definite  ex- 
pression on  the  subject  until  he  issued  his  farewell  address  a 
short  time  before  the  election  of  1796.  Washington  was  an 
extremely  reticent  man,  and  it  is  possible  that,  in  view  of  the 
serious  complications  between  this  country  and  France,  he 
may  have  anticipated  a  contingency  that  would  make  him 
accept  a  third  election  to  the  Presidency,  but  it  seems  to  have 
been  well  understood  by  those  nearest  to  him  in  official 
circles  that  he  earnestly  desired  to  retire  to  private  life  at  the 
expiration  of  his  second  term.  He  was  then  the  richest  man 
in  the  country,  his  wealth  being  almost  wholly  composed 
of  land  and  slaves,  and  for  twenty  years  he  had  been  unable 
to  give  any  attention  to  his  large  business  interests.  While 
his  election  and  re-election  to  the  Presidency  by  a  unanimous 
vote  were  very  gratifying  to  him,  he  greatly  preferred  the 
life  upon  his  plantation,  where  he  gave  most  careful  attention 
to  all  the  details  of  its  management. 

As  early  as  1793  it  was  generally  accepted  by  the  public 
that  Washington  would  not  be  a  candidate  for  re-election, 
and  that  Jefferson  and  Adams  would  be  the  logical  com- 
petitors for  the  succession.  Jefferson  had  cleared  his  decks 
for  the  battle  by  resigning  his  office  as  Secretary  of  State 
early  in  1794.  He  was  not  in  harmony  with  the  severe  Fed- 
eral policy  of  Washington,  and  was  very  positively  hostile  to 
the  policy  of  the  administration  in  failing  to  support  the 
French  Revolution.  Jefferson  led  the  Democratic  forces  of 
the  country ;  Washington,  and  Adams  as  his  logical  succes- 
sor, led  the  Federal  forces,  and  between  them  there  was  an 
irreconcilable  dispute  as  to  the  form  of  government  the  new 
Republic  should  assume.  Washington,  Adams,  Hamilton, 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

and  their  associates  did  not  believe  in  the  capacity  of  the 
people  for  self-government.  They  favored  the  strongest 
possible  government,  with  checks  and  balances  which  could 
effectually  restrain  what  they  regarded  as  positive  and  dan- 
gerous ebullitions  of  public  sentiment.  They  would  have 
made  Senators  for  life  and  given  only  the  semblance  of  gov- 
ernment to  the  people.  Jefferson,  on  the  other  hand,  took  the 
broad  ground  that  the  people  were  sovereign  and  should  rule. 
He  logically  supported  the  French  Revolution  against  the 
Bourbon  Kings,  and  cherished  the  strongest  prejudices 
against  England.  As  Secretary  of  State  he  could  not  well 
have  remained  in  the  Washington  Cabinet  the  last  two  years 
of  the  administration,  but  he  doubtless  resigned  to  be  entirely 
free  to  make  his  great  battle  for  the  Presidency  in  1796. 

Neither  Jefferson  nor  Adams  was  nominated  for  the  Presi- 
dency in  1796  by  any  Legislature  or  mass-meeting  of  which 
there  is  any  record  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain. 
Adams  was  the  choice  of  Washington,  and  the  logical  suc- 
cessor to  Washington  as  the  Federal  candidate  for  President, 
and  Jefferson  stood  head  and  shoulders  over  all  the  Repub- 
licans of  that  day.  The  title  of  Republican  was  adopted  by 
the  friends  of  Jefferson,  and  the  Democratic  party  was 
founded  in  1796  by  Jefferson  under  the  name  of  Republican, 
established  as  the  majority  party  of  the  nation  four  years 
later,  and  it  fought  and  won  the  Democratic  battles  under 
that  name  until  1824,  when  the  Jackson  party  changed  the 
title  to  Democracy. 

If  the  overshadowing  individuality  of  Washington  could 
have  been  eliminated  from  the  contest  of  1796,  Jefferson 
would  have  defeated  Adams  by  a  decided  majority,  but 
Washington  was  earnestly  enlisted  in  the  support  of  Adams, 
and  all  the  power  of  the  administration  was  wielded  in  favor 
of  the  Federal  candidate.  While  Washington  was  not 
charged  with  violent  partisanship  in  his  appointments,  it  is 
none  the  less  true  that  when  the  issue  came  between  Adams 
and  Jefferson,  every  Federal  official  of  the  country  felt  bound 
to  support,  with  all  the  power  he  possessed,  the  candidate 
preferred  by  Washington.  Had  Grover  Cleveland  lived  in 
that  day,  he  would  have  had  ample  opportunity  to  denounce 
the  "  pernicious  activity"  of  office-holders  with  as  much 
reason  as  he  denounced  them  a  century  later  in  his  support  of 
civil  service  reform. 

Not  only  were  the  Federal  officials  aggressively  enlisted 

8 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

in  favor  of  Adams,  but  the  personal  influence  of  Washington, 
that  was  greater  than  that  ever  wielded  by  any  other  official 
or  citizen  of  the  Republic  down  to  the  present  time,  was  a 
serious  obstacle  to  Jefferson's  success.  The  people  loved 
Jefferson  as  the  author  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
and  a  large  majority  of  them  sympathized  with  his  liberal 
ideas  of  popular  government,  but  the  name  of  Washington 
was  sacred  to  a  large  majority,  and  his  wishes  were  para- 
mount in  deciding  their  political  action.  Such  were  the  con- 
ditions under  which  Jefferson  entered  the  contest  against 
Adams  in  1796. 

In  this  contest,  for  the  first  time,  there  were  two  candidates 
distinctly  declared  as  competitors  for  the  Presidency,  and 
other  candidates  as  distinctly  declared  as  competitors  for 
Vice-President,  although  all  had  to  be  voted  for  as  candi- 
dates for  President  in  the  Electoral  College.  At  that  time 
Aaron  Burr  was  in  the  zenith  of  his  power.  He  was  one  of 
the  most  astute  politicians  of  that  day,  inordinately  am- 
bitious, unscrupulous  in  his  methods,  and  he  was  generally 
accepted  by  the  friends  of  Jefferson  as  the  candidate  for 
Vice-President. 

New  York  was  a  Federal  State,  but  it  was  hoped  that  by 
the  masterly  ability  of  Burr  the  electoral  vote  of  New  York 
might  be  won  for  Jefferson,  although  while  there  was  entire 
unanimity  among  the  Republicans  in  support  of  Jefferson, 
there  was  not  equal  unanimity  in  the  support  of  Burr.  He 
failed  to  carry  New  York  for  Jefferson,  but  succeeded  in 
carrying  it  for  Jefferson  and  himself  in  1800,  and  his  victory 
was  won  so  early  in  the  contest  by  the  election  of  a  Repub- 
lican Legislature  in  that  State  in  May,  1800,  that  he  prac- 
tically decided  the  battle  against  Adams. 

The  Presidential  contest  between  Jefferson  and  Adams 
developed  into  the  most  defamatory  campaign  ever  known  in 
the  history  of  American  politics,  unless  the  second  campaign 
of  1800  between  the  same  leaders  may  be  accepted  as  equal- 
ling it.  In  no  modern  national  campaign  have  candidates 
and  parties  been  so  maliciously  defamed  as  were  candidates 
and  parties  when  Jefferson  and  Adams  fought  for  power  in 
the  contest  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Republic.  Jefferson  was 
denounced  as  an  unscrupulous  demagogue,  and  Adams  was 
denounced  as  a  kingly  despot  without  sympathy  with  the 
people,  and  opposed  to  every  principle  of  popular  govern- 
ment. 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


There  were  few  newspapers,  but  it  was  the  age  of  the  pam- 
phleteer, and  the  political  pamphlets  of  those  days,  if  com- 
pared with  the  political  asperities  of  the  present  age,  would 
make  the  partisan  vituperation  of  the  evening  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  appear  as  tame  and  feeble.  Nor  were  political 
leaders  of  that  day  any  less  unscrupulous  than  are  the  political 
leaders  of  the  present.  The  struggles  of  mean  ambition  were 
as  common  then  as  now,  and  political  leaders  jostled  each  other 
in  the  most  vituperative  assaults  to  give  victory  to  their  cause. 

The  contest  ended  in  November,  when  the  elections  were 
held  in  the  various  States.  Tennessee  had  been  admitted  to 
the  Union  on  the  1st  of  June,  1796,  making  sixteen  States 
to  participate  in  the  choice  of  a  President.  Of  these,  six 
States  held  some  form  of  popular  elections,  while  ten  chose 
their  electors  by  the  Legislature.  The  popular  vote  cast  at 
these  elections  had  no  material  significance.  There  was  but 
one  ticket  voted  for  in  nearly  or  quite  all  of  the  six  States 
which  assumed  to  choose  electors  by  popular  vote,  as  the  New 
England  States  were  solid  for  Adams,  and  the  Southern 
States,  where  elections  were  held,  were  strong  in  the  support 
of  Jefferson.  The  result  was  the  election  of  Adams  in  the 
Electoral  College  by  a  vote  of  71  to  68  for  Jefferson,  who 
thereby  became  Vice-President.  The  following  is  the  vote  in 
detail,  as  cast  in  the  Electoral  College,  the  electors  voting 
only  for  President : 


STATES. 

John  Adams, 
of  Massachusetts. 

Thomas  Jefferson, 
of  Virginia. 

Thomas  Pinckney, 
of  South  Carolina. 

1  1  1  1  1  Aaron  Burr, 

1  co  *.  1  of  New  York  ! 

Samuel  Adams, 
of  Massachusetts. 

1  1  1  I  I  I  Oliver  Ellsworth. 
*»-*J  of  Connecticut.  ! 

!*' 
•& 

u* 

<u  <a 
&* 

So 

.M 

1 

£* 

% 

1,° 

James  Iredell, 
of  North  Carolina. 

c" 
o 

"So 
H 

I* 

n 

0>  b 

uj> 
8*8 

John  Henry, 
of  Maryland. 

it 

d 

%  <& 

%u 

ox 

~t: 
§1 

§o 
'J) 

Charles  C.  Pinckney,  j 
of  South  Carolina. 

No.  entitled  to  vote. 

Connecticut.  . 

9 

3 

7 
16 
6 
7 
12 

4 

4 
4 

4 
3 

4 
13 

— 

4 

5 

— 

— 

2 

2 

— 

9 
3 
4 
4 
10 
16 
6 
7 
12 

Delaware  

Georgia  

Kentucky  
Maryland. 

Massachusetts  .  .  . 
New  Hampshire. 
New  Jersey  
New  York  

— 

7 
12 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

10 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


STATES. 

John  Adams, 
of  Massachusetts. 

Thomas  Jefferson, 
of  Virginia.  | 

Thomas  Pinckney, 
of  South  Carolina. 

Aaron  Burr, 
of  New  York. 

Samuel  Adams, 
of  Massachusetts. 

Oliver  Ellsworth, 
of  Connecticut.  ] 

§« 

IS 
^* 

4)  V 

&* 
So 

/* 

1 

£* 

% 

•§° 
>—  » 

James  Iredell, 
of  North  Carolina. 

George  Washington, 
of  Virginia,  | 

John  Henry, 
of  Maryland. 

Samuel  Johnson, 
of  North  Carolina. 

Charles  C.  Pinckney, 
of  South  Carolina. 

No.  entitled  to  vote. 

North  Carolina  .  . 
Pennsylvania.  .  .  . 

RVinrl^  TQlanH 

1 
1 

11 
14 

1. 
2 

6 
13 



— 

— 

3 

1 

— 



1 

12 

15 

4" 

South  Carolina.  .  . 
Tennessee  
Vermont  .  . 

4 

8 
3 

8 
4 

3 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

8 
3 
4 

Virginia 

1 

90 

1 

1 

15 

3 

1 

°1 

Total  

71 

68 

59 

30 

15 

11 

7 

5 

3 

9, 

2 

8 

1 

138 

It  will  be  seen  by  the  foregoing  table  that  Pennsylvania,* 
Maryland,  Virginia,  and  North  Carolina  cast  divided  elec- 
toral votes  for  the  Presidency  between  Jefferson  and  Adams. 
In  Pennsylvania,  Adams  received  I  electoral  vote  to  14  for 
Jefferson.  In  Maryland,  Adams  received  7  to  4  for  Jeffer- 
son. In  Virginia,  Jefferson's  own  State,  Adams  received  I 
to  20  for  Jefferson,  and  in  North  Carolina  the  vote  was  I  for 
Adams  to  1 1  for  Jefferson.  In  all  of  these  States  the  electors 
were  chosen  by  popular  vote,  and  they  were  doubtless 
selected  with  reference  to  their  character  and  intelligence 
without  pledges  as  to  how  they  should  cast  their  ballots  in  the 
electoral  colleges.  One  of  the  Virginia  electors  exercised  his 
admitted  right  to  vote  against  Jefferson,  who  had  the  largest 
popular  following  in  the  State.  It  was  this  independent  ac- 
tion of  a  few  electors  in  1796  that  made  both  parties  draw 
their  lines  severely  in  the  selection  of  the  candidates  for 
electors,  and  from  that  time  until  the  present  all  electoral 
tickets  have  been  made  up  of  men  who  were  accepted  as 
solemnly  pledged  to  vote  for  their  party  candidates  in  the 
Electoral  College. 

*The  popular  vote,  as  imperfectly  preserved  at  Harrisburg,  gives 
Adams  11,552  and  Jefferson  8373,  but  as  14  of  the  15  electors  voted 
for  Jefferson  the  vote  of  record  is  incomplete  and  misleading. 

II 


THE  JEFFERSON-ADAMS-BURR 
CONTEST 

1800-1 


THE  Presidential  contest  of  1800  was  as  revolutionary  in 
its  aim  and  in  its  accomplishment  as  was  the  Republican 
revolution  of  1860.  The  Federalists  had  practically  undis- 
puted control  of  the  Government  for  twelve  years,  under 
Washington  and  John  Adams,  and  the  power  of  the  Federal 
party,  with  the  overwhelming  individuality  of  Washing- 
ton in  its  favor,  accomplished  the  election  of  Adams  over 
Jefferson  in  1796.  When  the  battle  of  1800  opened,  Wash- 
ington was  dead,  and  Hamilton,  one  of  the  ablest  of  the 
Washington  political  lieutenants,  was  not  in  hearty  sympathy 
with  Adams. 

The  Federalists  held  both  branches  of  Congress,  and  a 
tidal  wave  of  partisan  bitterness  and  personal  defamation 
ran  riot,  both  in  Congress  and  throughout  the  country.  Our 
foreign  complications  with  France  had  become  very  serious, 
and  Congress  approved  what  was  then  regarded  as  very 
extensive  preparations  for  a  war  that  was  bitterly  opposed 
by  the  Republican  minority,  the  followers  of  Jefferson.  So 
violent  were  the  political  discussions  of  the  country  that 
Adams,  acting  in  accord  with  the  Federal  theory  of  a  strong 
suppressive  government,  demanded  and  secured  the  passage 
of  what  are  known  as  the  Alien  and  Sedition  laws,  which 
now  rank  among  the  most  odious  legislative  acts  in  the 
history  of  the  Republic. 

While  the  Alien  and  Sedition  laws  were  apparently  aimed 
at  those  who  were  open  enemies  of  the  country  in  war,  they 
were,  in  fact,  intended  to  suppress  criticism  of  the  adminis- 
tration and  to  impose  the  severest  penalties  for  open  hostility 
.    to  its  policy.    The  first  session  of  the  Congress  of  1797-98 

12 


.1011 N     ADAMS 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

lasted  eight  months,  and  even  in  the  fierce  passions  of  civil 
war  the  Congressional  debates  did  not  equal  the  asperities 
of  the  Congressional  debates  of  a  century  ago.  The  first 
Alien  law  lengthened  the  period  for  naturalization  to  fourteen 
years,  and  all  emigrants  were  required  to  be  registered  and 
the  certificate  of  registration  to  be  the  only  proof  of  resi- 
dence. All  alien  enemies  were  forbidden  the  right  of  citizen- 
ship under  any  circumstances. 

Another  of  the  series  gave  the  President  the  power  in 
case  of  war  to  seize  or  expel  all  resident  aliens  of  the  nation 
at  war  with  us,  and  yet  another  gave  the  President  power 
to  deport  any  alien  whom  he  might  think  dangerous  to  the 
country,  and  if  after  being  ordered  away  he  remained  in 
the  country,  he  was  subject  to  imprisonment  for  three  vears 
and  forbidden  citizenship.  In  addition  to  these  provisions, 
aliens  so  imprisoned  could  be  removed  from  the  country  by 
the  President's  order.  Such  were  the  general  provisions  of 
the  Alien  law.  The  Sedition  bill,  that  was  part  of  the  same 
policy,  declared  that  any  who  hindered  officers  in  the  dis- 
charge of  their  duties  or  opposed  any  of  the  laws  of  the 
country  were  guilty  of  high  crime  and  misdemeanor,  punish- 
able by  fine  and  imprisonment.  Those  who  were  guilty  of 
writing  or  publishing  any  false  and  malicious  writings  against 
Congress  or  the  President,  or  aided  therein,  were  made  pun- 
ishable by  a  fine  of  $2000  and  imprisonment  for  two  years. 

These  measures  were  in  harmony  with  the  Federal  theory 
of  government.  The  Federal  leaders  did  not  believe  the 
people  capable  of  self-government,  and  Adams  felt  justified 
in  imposing  the  severest  penalties  upon  all  who  severely 
criticised  or  violently  opposed  the  administration.  Washing- 
ton was  yet  alive  and  in  full  mental  and  physical  vigor  when 
these  laws  were  passed,  and  it  is  reasonable  to  assume  that 
he  approved  of  them,  as  he  could  have  defeated  them  if  he 
had  opposed  their  enactment.  Hamilton  vainly  protested 
against  the  Alien  and  Sedition  laws  as  a  fatal  political 
blunder,  but  Federalism  had  never  suffered  defeat,  and 
President  Adams  never  doubted  his  re-election  until  the 
vote  was  declared  against  him. 

The  contest  of  1800  had  its  lines  so  well  defined  from  the 
outset  that  candidates  for  President  and  Vice-President 
were  as  clearly  indicated,  although  without  any  formal 
declaration,  as  national  tickets  would  be  indicated  by  a 
national  convention  of  modern  times.  There  is  no  record 

13 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

of  the  Congressional  caucus  in  1800,  but  it  seems  to  be  an 
accepted  tradition  that  the  Federals,  who  had  a  majority  of 
the  House,  first  called  a  secret  caucus  to  confer  about  the 
management  of  the  campaign.  They  did  not  formally  name 
candidates,  but  by  general  consent  Adams  was  accepted  as 
the  candidate  for  President  and  Charles  C.  Pinckney,  of 
South  Carolina,  for  Vice-President.  Apparently  well- 
authenticated  reports  tell  of  a  Republican  Congressional 
caucus  held  during  the  same  year,  but  there  is  no  preserved 
record  of  it.  If  such  a  caucus  was  held,  candidates  were 
not  nominated  no^  was  any  declaration  of  principles  made. 
The  chief  object  f  the  Republican  caucus  seems  to  have 
been  to  harmonize  the  friends  of  Jefferson  on  Burr  as  the 
accepted  candidate  for  Vice-President,  but  no  preference 
was  expressed  in  any  formal  way.  When  the  Federalists 
held  their  first  caucus  the  Republicans  denounced  it  as  a 
"  Jacobinical  conclave,"  and  so  severe  were  the  criticisms 
of  the  Philadelphia  Aurora,  the  leading  Jefferson  organ, 
that  its  editor  was  at  one  time  arraigned  before  the  bar  of 
the  Senate. 

^  The  contest  of  1800  opened  early  in  the  year,  the  reported 
Congressional  caucuses  having  been  held  in  February  or 
March,  and  from  that  time  until  the  election  the  political 
discussions  were  acrimc  uous  to  a  degree  that  would  surprise 
the  present  generation.  Jefferson  had  cordially  united  his 
friends  in  the  support  of  Burr,  and  it  was  Burr's  magnificent 
leadership  that  carried  the  electoral  vote  of  New  York  by 
winning  the  Legislature  of  that  State  as  early  as  May.  New 
York  had  voted  for  Ac*  ,ms  in  1796,  and  the  loss  to  Adams 
of  one  of  the  leading  States  of  the  Union  and  its  transfer  to 
Jefferson  made  the  battle  next  to  hopeless  for  Adams,  but 
he  and  his  friends  fought  it  out  to  the  bitter  end. 

No  new  States  had  been  admitted  during  the  Adams 
administration,  and  the  same  sixteen  States  which  had  elected 
Adams  over  Jefferson  were  then  to  pass  a  second  judgment 
upon  the  great  leaders  of  the  two  opposing  political  theories 
of  that  day.  In  Pennsylvania  the  Federalists  controlled  the 
Senate  chiefly  by  hold-over  Senators,  as  the  popular  senti- 
ment of  the  State  was  strongly  for  Jefferson.  In  the  three 
previous  elections  for  President  the  Pennsylvania  Legisla- 
ture had  passed  special  acts  authorizing  a  popular  vote  for 
President,  but  in  1800,  the  Federals  having  control  of  the 
Senate'  refused  to  pass  a  bill  for  an  election  whereby  the 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

choice  of  electors  was  thrown  into  the  Legislature,  and  it 
required  joint  action  of  the  Federal  Senate  and  the  largely 
Republican  House  to  provide  for  a  choice  of  electors  even 
by  the  Legislature.  The  Federal  Senators  refused  to  go 
into  joint  convention  except  upon  conditions  which  would 
divide  the  electoral  vote,  and  the  Republicans  of  the  House 
were  compelled  to  choose  between  disfranchising  the  State, 
as  New  York  had  been  disfranchised  in  1789,  or  to  concede 
a  large  minority  of  the  electors  to  Adams. 

It  was  finally  agreed  that  each  House  should  nominate 
8  electors,  and  that  the  Houses  should  then  meet  jointly  and 
each  member  should  vote  together  fo?o  15  of  the  16  thus 
nominated.  The  result  was  that  the  Federalists  forced  the 
election  of  7  Adams  electors  with  8  for  Jefferson.  The 
Federal  Senators,  13  in  number,  who -controlled  the  Senate 
against  the  u  Republicans,  were  heralded  by  their  party 
papers  and  leaders  as  grand  heroes,  because  by  the  accident 
of  power  in  one  body  of  the  Legislature  not  immediately 
chosen  by  the  people  they  had  wrested  7  electors  from 
Jefferson,  which  would  have  been  given  to  him  either  by  a 
popular  vote  or  by  a  joint  vote  of  the  Legislature. 

Rhode  Island  at  this  election  for  the  first  time  chose 
electors  by  popular  vote,  making  6  States  which  chose  elec- 
tors by  the  vote  of  the  people  andmo  which  chose  electors 
by  the  Legislature.  As  the  electoral  colleges  could  vote 
only  for  candidates  for  President,  Jefferson  and  Burr  re- 
ceived precisely  the  same  vote,  73  in  number,  and  Adams 
received  65,  with  64  for  Pinckney  and  I  for  John  Jay.  The 
following  is  the  table  of  the  vote  ar,!cast  in  the  electoral  col- 
leges : 


>,  • 

\ 

c- 

8| 

"o 

E 

jj 

I 

«'§ 

jj 

0 

STATES. 

|| 

e 

«-5 

11 

£u 
66 

o 

I 

to  S) 

•O  M 

S3 

r*^  J 

a 

«j.h 

D%4 

^ 

^ 

0 

•nM 

^ 

C 
V 

J3  0 

Bj    O 

•C  o 

5o 

"3  ° 

o 

EH 

^ 

»-» 

o 

>-> 

88 

Connecticut 

9 

9 

9 

Delaware 

3 

3 

3 

Georgia 

4 

4 

4 

Kentucky  

4 

4 

— 

— 

— 

4 

OUR  PRESIDENTS 


STATES. 

>mas  Jefferson, 
Virginia. 

•on  Burr, 
New  York. 

n  Adams, 
Massachusetts. 

rles  C.  Pinckney, 
South  Carolina. 

jj 

£ 
£* 

% 

entitled  to  vote. 

S  o 
P 

rt  0 
< 

s 

^0 

O 

•§° 

*—  > 

1 

Maryland              

5 

5 

5 

5 

10 

Massachusetts  

16 

16 

16 

New  Hampshire          

__ 

6 

6 



6 

__ 

,  , 

7 

7 

. 

7 

New  York  

12 

12 

_ 

12 

North  Carolina  

8 

8 

4 

4 



12 

Pennsylvania 

8 

8 

7 

7 

15 

Rhode  Island 

4 

3 

i 

4 

South  Carolina        .  . 

8 

8 

8 

Tennessee  .  .  „             

3 

3 

__ 

3 

Vermont   ...       

4 

4 

4 

Virginia  

21 

21 



21 

Total 

73 

73 

65 

64 

i 

138 

It  is  impossible  to  give  anything  like  an  intelligent  pres- 
entation of  the  popular  vote  between  Jefferson  and  Adams. 
In  most  of  the  States  which  chose  electors  by  popular  vote 
there  was  practically  no  contest,  as  the  New  England  States 
voted  solidly  for  Adams,  and  the  Southern  States  south  of 
Maryland  voted  as  solidly  for  Jefferson,  with  the  exception 
of  North  Carolina,  where  an  electoral  ticket  seems  to  have 
been  chosen  on  the  original  theory  that  electors  should 
exercise  sound  discretion  in  the  choice  of  a  President,  and 
in  the  exercise  of  that  discretion  4  of  the  North  Carolina 
electors  voted  for  Adams  and  8  for  Jefferson.  Had  Penn- 
sylvania been  permitted  to  give  expression  either  to  the 
popular  will  or  to  the  decided  Republican  majority  of  the 
Legislature,  7  of  the  Pennsylvania  votes  would  have  been 
taken  from  Adams  and  added  to  Jefferson,  which  would 
have  made  him  80  electoral  votes  to  58  for  Adams. 

Jefferson  had  won  his  election,  and  there  should  have  been 
no  question  about  according  it  to  him.  Under  the  electoral 
system  of  that  day,  by  which  each  elector  voted  for  two 
candidates  for  President,  Jefferson  and  Burr  each  received 
73  votes  for  the  Presidency,  and  upon  the  face  of  the  returns 

16 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

were  equally  entitled  to  claim  the  highest  honor  of  the 
Republic.  True,  Burr  had  not  been  discussed  or  seriously 
thought  of  as  a  candidate  for  President.  He  was  accepted 
by  the  Republicans  distinctly  as  the  candidate  for  Vice- 
President,  and  the  whole  battle  was  fought  out  on  the  issue 
between  Jefferson  and  Adams.  Had  Burr  been  honest  and 
manly,  he  would  have  ended  the  struggle  at  once  by  declar- 
ing that  the  people  had  elected  Jefferson  to  the  Presidency, 
and  that  Burr  could  not  consent  to  be  presented  to  the 
country  and  the  world  as  seeking  to  wear  the  stolen  honors 
of  the  Government;  but  Burr  developed  his  true  character 
as  soon  as  he  discovered  that  his  vote  was  equal  to  that 
given  to  Jefferson.  While  he  did  not  make  any  open  or 
visible  effort  to  elect  himself  over  Jefferson,  he  silently 
assented  to  the  use  of  his  name,  and  thus  made  the  Presi- 
dency hang  in  uncertainty  from  the  time  of  the  election  in 
November  until  the  I7th  of  February,  when  the  contest  was 
finally  decided  in  favor  of  Jefferson,  and  Burr  stamped  with 
infamy.  That  he  wished  to  be  elected  over  Jefferson  cannot 
be  reasonably  doubted.  If  he  had  not  permitted  the  use  of 
his  name  without  protest  as  a  candidate  against  Jefferson, 
there  would  have  been  no  discussion  and  no  uncertainty,  as 
the  House  would  have  chosen  Jefferson  on  the  1st  ballot. 

Jefferson  could  have  accomplished  his  own  election  with- 
out a  serious  contest  if  he  had  accepted  the  proposition  of 
the  Federalists  to  give  him  the  election,  to  which  he  was 
entitled  by  the  vote  of  the  people,  if  he  would  agree  not  to 
remove  the  Federalists  who  then  filled  all  the  offices  of  the 
Government.  Under  Washington  and  Adams,  the  Repub- 
licans were  practically  proscribed  in  national  appointments, 
and  Adams  had  been  specially  prescriptive  in  dispensing 
the  patronage  of  his  administration.  One  of  the  most  dis- 
creditable acts  of  his  administration  was  the  creation,  by 
his  Federal  Congress  in  the  expiring  hours  of  Federal  rule, 
of  a  number  of  judges,  to  whom  commissions  were  issued 
by  Adams  at  midnight  before  his  retirement  from  office. 
They  were  known  in  political  discussions  of  that  day  as  the 
"  midnight  judges,"  and  the  measure  was  so  odious  that 
it  speedily  destroyed  itself.  Jefferson,  while  not  specially 
proscriptive  in  political  appointments,  regarded  it  as  incon- 
sistent with  his  appreciation  of  executive  duties  to  give  any 
pledge  to  the  opposition  to  retain  their  friends  in  office. 
They  naturally  assumed  that  Jefferson  would  be  as  proscrip- 

17 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


live  as  Adams  had  been,  and  that  their  only  safety  was  in 
making  terms  with  Jefferson,  whose  election  they  could 
accomplish  without  difficulty. 

It  is  quite  probable  that  they  could  have  made  such  terms 
with  Burr,  and  it  is  possible  that  such  conditions  were  pro- 
posed and  accepted,  but  the  Federalists  knew  that  the  defeat 
of  Jefferson  would  be  a  monstrous  perversion  of  the  popular 
will;  and  Hamilton  and  Bayard,  of  Delaware,  and  other 
prominent  Federalists  earnestly  opposed  all  affiliation  with 
Burr.  Burr  having  failed  to  announce  that  Jefferson  had 
been  elected  President  by  the  people,  and  should  be  elected 
by  the  House,  and  Jefferson  having  refused  to  make  terms 
with  the  Federalists,  the  election  went  into  the  House  under 
rules  which  had  been  adopted  by  Congress  to  meet  the 
special  case.  Under  the  rules,  the  House  was  required  to 
retire  to  its  own  chamber  after  the  announcement  of  the 
electoral  vote  showing  no  choice,  and  proceed  to  ballot  for 
President,  and  to  continue  to  ballot  without  adjournment 
until  a  choice  was  effected.  That  session  of  the  House  con- 
tinued for  seven  days.  The  balloting  began  on  the  nth  of 
February  and  ended  on  the  I7th,  as  the  House,  instead  of 
adjourning,  simply  took  recesses  from  time  to  time.  Each 
State  could  cast  but  one  vote  in  the  House,  and  that  vote 
was  determined  by  a  majority  of  the  delegation.  Where  the 
delegation  was  evenly  divided  the  State  had  no  vote.  The 
following  is  the  vote  of  the  States  en  the  1st  ballot,  Febru- 
ary n,  1801 : 


STATES. 

Jefferson. 

Burr. 

State  voted  for. 

New  Hampshire  

4 

Burr. 

Vermont  

1 

1 

Divided  —  Blank. 

Massachusetts 

3 

11 

Burr 

Rhode  Island 

2 

Burr. 

Connecticut    

7 

Burr. 

New  York  

6 

4 

Jefferson. 

New  Jersey  

3 

2 

Jefferson. 

Pennsylvania.  .  .    

9 

4 

Jefferson. 

Delaware 

1 

Burr. 

Maryland  

4 

4 

Divided—  Blank. 

Virginia  

16 

3 

Jefferson. 

North  Carolina  

9 

1 

Jefferson. 

South  Carolina  

5 

Burr. 

Georgia  

1 

Jefferson 

Kentucky  

2 

Jefferson. 

Tennessee  

1 

Jefferson. 

Total  

55 

49 

* 

18 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

Nineteen  ballots  were  taken  on  the  same  day,  then  a 
recess  was  taken  until  the  I2th,  when  9  additional  ballots 
were  taken,  and  I  ballot  was  taken  on  the  I3th,  4  on  the 
I4th,  i  on  the  i6th  (the  I5th  being  Sunday),  and  i  on  the 
1 7th,  making  an  aggregate  of  35  ballots,  all  of  which  were 
precisely  a  repetition  of  the  1st  ballot  given  in  the  foregoing 
table.  Jefferson  received  the  vote  of  8  States,  Burr  of  6, 
and  2  were  blank,  because  of  divided  delegations.  The  vote 
of  9  States  was  necessary  to  an  election,  and  there  was  no 
choice. 

On  the  2d  ballot  cast  on  the  I7th,  being  the  36th  ballot 
in  all,  Jefferson  was  successful,  receiving  the  votes  of  10 
States  to  4  for  Burr  and  2  blank.  The  changes  in  favor 
of  Jefferson  were  made  by  one  Vermont  member  declining 
to  vote,  thus  allowing  his  colleague  to  cast  the  vote  of  the 
State  for  President,  and  by  four  from  Maryland  also  declin- 
ing to  vote,  by  which  the  tie  in  that  State  was  broken  in 
Jefferson's  favor. 

In  addition  to  these  changes  South  Carolina  and  Delaware 
cast  blank  votes,  but  they  did  not  help  Jefferson,  as  he 
required  the  positive  vote  of  9  States  to  accomplish  his 
election.  It  was  James  A.  Bayard,  of  Delaware,  a  leading 
Federalist,  who  changed  his  vote  on  the  last  ballot  from 
a  vote  for  Burr  to  a  blank  ballot.  Jefferson  was  thus  de- 
clared elected  President,  and  Burr  became  Vice-President 
by  the  mandate  of  the  Constitution,  he  having  received  the 
highest  electoral  vote  for  President  excepting  that  cast  for 
Jefferson. 

It  can  be  readily  understood  that  Burr's  permission  of 
the  use  of  his  name  to  defeat  the  election  of  Jefferson  in  the 
House  made  an  impassable  gulf  between  them,  and  that 
contest  dated  the  decline  of  Burr's  power  in  the  land.  He 
knew  that  there  could  be  no  future  for  him,  and  his  restless 
genius  sought  new  fields  in  which  to  gratify  his  ambition, 
ending  in  his  arrest  and  trial  for  treason,  and  also  staining 
his  skirts  with  the  murder  of  Hamilton.  Hamilton  was 
open  in  his  hostility  to  Burr  in  the  contest  between  Jefferson 
and  Burr  in  the  House,  and  it  was  Burr's  resentment  of 
Hamilton's  hostility  to  his  election  that  made  him  seize  upon 
a  trivial  pretext  to  force  Hamilton  into  a  duel,  in  which 
Hamilton  fell  mortally  wounded  at  the  first  fire.  Burr's 
public  career  was  thus  ended  by  the  Jefferson-Burr  contest, 
and  although  he  lived  many  years  thereafter,  he  drank  the 

19 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

bitterest   dregs   of   sorrow,   and   died   in   poverty   and   un- 
lamented. 

Adams  accepted  his  defeat  most  ungracefully.  He  re- 
mained in  the  Executive  Mansion  until  midnight  of  the  3d 
of  March,  1801,  when  he  and  his  family  deserted  it,  leaving 
it  vacant  for  Jefferson  to  enter,  without  a  host  to  welcome 
him.  It  was  the  only  instance  in  which  the  retiring  President 
did  not  personally  receive  the  incoming  President  in  the 
Executive  Mansion,  with  the  single  exception  of  President 
Johnson,  who  did  not  remain  at  the  White  House  to  receive 
Grant ;  but  Johnson  was  excusable  from  the  fact  that  Grant 
had  expressed  his  purpose  not  to  permit  Johnson  to  accom- 
pany him  in  the  inauguration  ceremonies.  Jefferson,  in 
marked  contrast  with  the  pomp  and  ceremony  of  Federal 
inaugurations,  appeared  on  the  4th  of  March  clad  in  home- 
spun, and  rode  his  own  horse  unattended  to  the  Capitol,  and 
after  the  inauguration  ceremonies  returned  to  the  Executive 
Mansion  in  like  manner.  Both  Jefferson  and  Adams  lived 
for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  after  their  great  battle 
terminated  in  1800,  and  time  greatly  mellowed  the  asperities 
of  their  desperate  political  conflicts.  In  the  later  years  of 
their  life,  when  both  had  lived  long  in  retirement,  they  had 
friendly  correspondence;  and  it  is  one  of  the  most  notable 
events  in  our  political  annals  that  Jefferson  and  Adams,  who 
stood  side  by  side  in  presenting  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence to  Congress,  and  who  had  fought  the  fiercest  political 
battles  of  the  nation  as  opposing  leaders,  both  died  on  the 
same  day — the  natal  day  of  the  Republic — July  4,  1826. 


THOMAS  .n:i  Fi:i;<nx 


THE  JEFFERSON-PINCKNEY  CONTEST 

1804 

THE  election  of  Jefferson  in  1800  was  a  complete  revolu- 
tion in  the  political  policy  of  the  new  Republic,  and  it  main- 
tained its  supremacy  for  sixty  years.  The  Republican  party 
that  triumphed  with  Jefferson  never  suffered  a  defeat  until 
after  the  name  of  the  party  had  been  changed  to  Democracy 
under  Jackson.  John  Quincy  Adams,  who  was  elected  Presi- 
dent in  1824,  was  nominated  and  supported  as  a  Republican, 
as  were  Jackson,  Crawford,  and  Clay,  and  the  Whig  tri- 
umphs of  1840  and  1848  stand  in  our  history  as  accidental 
victories  without  changing  the  general  policy  of  the  Govern- 
ment in  any  material  respect.  It  may  be  accepted  as  a  fact 
that  from  1800  until  1900,  the  full  period  of  a  century,  there 
have  been  but  two  political  policies  established  and  main- 
tained in  the  government  of  this  country.  The  Democratic 
policy  ruled  from  1800  to  1860,  and  from  1860  to  1900  the 
Republican  policy  has  maintained  its  supremacy,  notwith- 
standing the  two  Democratic  administrations  of  Cleveland. 
They  were  but  temporary  checks  upon  Republican  mastery, 
as  the  Whig  successes  of  1840  and  1848  were  mere  tem- 
porary checks  upon  Democratic  rule. 

With  Jefferson's  success  in  1800  came,  for  the  first  time, 
the  control  of  the  Republicans  in  both  branches  of  Congress, 
and  Jefferson  thus  had  the  entire  legislative  power  of  the 
Government  in  thorough  sympathy  and  harmony  with  him- 
self. He  was  bitterly  opposed  by  the  Federalists  at  every 
step.  They  justly  criticised  his  hostility  to  an  American 
navy;  they  complained  vehemently  of  his  removals  from 
office  in  partisan  interests,  and  they  specially  assailed  his 
ostentatious  attempts  to  limit  the  authority  and  powers  of  the 
General  Government  to  give  the  supreme  sovereignty  of  the 
nation  to  the  people. 

21 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

The  one  act  of  his  administration  that  was  most  violently 
assailed  was  his  purchase  of  Louisiana  in  1803.  It  was 
proclaimed  by  the  Federalists  as  the  most  flagrant  usurpa- 
tion of  authority,  as  an  utter  overthrow  of  the  Constitution, 
and  as  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  the  Union.  There  is  not 
an  argument  made  to-day  against  the  acquisition  of  the  Phil- 
ippines and  Puerto  Rico  that  is  not  the  echo  of  the  earnest 
arguments  made  by  the  Federalists  against  the  acquisition  of 
Louisiana.  The  ablest  of  the  Federalists  proclaimed  in  the 
Senate  and  House  that  the  Union  was  practically  destroyed 
by  the  acquisition  of  a  distant  country,  containing  a  people 
with  no  sympathy  with  our  interests  or  institutions;  who 
were  generally  strangers  to  our  language  and  could  never  be 
educated  to  the  proper  standard  of  American  citizenship. 
But  the  country  then,  as  now,  believed  in  expansion,  and  the 
acquisition  of  Louisiana  stands  out  as  one  of  the  grandest 
achievements  of  statesmanship  exhibited  by  any  administra- 
tion, from  Washington  to  McKinley. 

The  contest  between  Jefferson  and  Burr  for  the  Presi- 
dency, after  one  had  been  distinctly  supported  as  a  candidate 
for  President  and  the  other  as  distinctly  as  a  candidate  for 
Vice-President,  taught  the  necessity  of  changing  the  method 
of  choosing  a  President  in  the  Electoral  College,  but  the 
Federalists  bitterly  opposed  the  change,  chiefly  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  desired  solely  to  gratify  the  personal 
ambition  and  interests  of  Jefferson.  The  proposed  amend- 
ment prevailed,  however,  and  was  ratified  by  thirteen  of  the 
sixteen  States  in  ample  time  for  the  contest  of  1804.  The 
dissenting  States  in  the  ratification  of  the  amendment  were 
Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  Delaware.  Under  that 
amendment  the  electors  voted  for  President  and  Vice-Presi- 
dent as  they  do  to-day,  and  the  candidate  for  Vice-President 
must  now  have  a  majority  of  the  electoral  vote  as  well  as 
the  candidate  for  President  to  be  successful. 

The  Congressional  caucus  that  made  Presidents  for  many 
years  became  an  accepted  institution  in  1804,  when  the  Re- 
publican or  Jeffersonian  members  of  Congress  were  publicly 
invited  to  meet  on  the  25th  of  February.  They  unanimously 
nominated  Mr.  Jefferson  for  re-election,  and  as  Burr  was 
unthought  of  for  Vice-President,  they  nominated  George 
Clinton,  of  New  York,  for  that  office.  This  was  the  first 
open  political  caucus  or  convention  to  nominate  national  can- 
didates. The  caucuses  of  1800  were  held  in  secret  by  both 

22 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

the  Federalists  and  Republicans,  and  no  record  was  pre- 
served of  their  actions.  Those  who  called  the  caucus,  appre- 
ciating the  prejudice  that  would  likely  be  provoked  by  Con- 
gress attempting  to  dictate  the  candidates  for  President  and 
Vice-President,  distinctly  declared  that  the  caucus  or  con- 
ference was  called  solely  as  individuals,  and  not  as  official 
representatives  of  the  Senate  and  House.  If  the  Federalists 
held  a  caucus  in  1804,  there  ls  no  record  of  it  that  I  have  been 
able  to  find,  but  they  united  on  Charles  C.  Pinckney,  of  South 
Carolina,  for  President,  and  Rufus  King,  of  New  York,  for 
Vice-President.  Both  of  the  parties  gave  the  second  place 
on  their  respective  tickets  to  New  York,  clearly  indicating 
that  they  regarded  New  York  as  one  of  the  pivotal  States  of 
the  conflict. 

Ohio  had  been  admitted  into  the  Union  in  1802,  making 
17  States  to  take  part  in  the  election  of  1804,  and  the  new 
apportionment,  shaped  by  the  census  of  1800,  enlarged  the 
number  of  electoral  votes.  While  the  Federalists  had  greatly 
diminished  in  popular  strength  by  the  loss  of  power  and  the 
steadily  gaining  approval  of  Jefferson  and  his  Republican 
policy,  they  did  not  abate  in  any  degree  the  intensity  of  their 
hostility  to  Jefferson,  and  in  a  few  States  where  contests  were 
made,  the  campaigns  were  conducted  on  the  old  defamatory 
lines  which  marked  the  two  great  battles  between  Jefferson 
and  Adams. 

In  most  of  the  States  there  was  practically  no  contest,  but 
in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  where  Federalism  had 
always  maintained  its  supremacy,  the  Federalists  fought 
with  an  earnestness  and  desperation  such  as  might  have  been 
expected  in  a  hopeful  struggle.  The  fiercest  battle  was 
fought  in  Massachusetts,  where  for  the  first  time  the  Repub- 
licans defeated  the  Federalists  in  the  largest  vote  ever  cast 
in  the  State.  Jefferson  electors  received  29,310  votes  to  25,- 
777  for  the  Pinckney  ticket,  giving  Jefferson  a  majority  of 
3533.  This  was  a  terrible  blow  to  Adams,  and  it  was  aggra- 
vated by  the  fact  that  while  Massachusetts  faltered,  Con- 
necticut gave  her  electoral  vote  to  the  Federal  ticket.  Dela- 
ware, with  her  three  electoral  votes,  was  the  only  other  State 
that  maintained  her  devotion  to  the  Federal  cause,  and  the 
electoral  votes  of  those  2  States,  with  2  added  from  the  II 
votes  of  Maryland,  summed  up  the  entire  vote  of  the  Federal 
candidate  for  President  in  the  Electoral  College,  the  vote 
being  162  for  Jefferson  to  14  for  Pinckney,  and  a  like  vote 

23 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 


for  Clinton  and  King  for  Vice-President.     The  following 
table  presents  the  official  vote  cast  in  the  electoral  colleges : 


STATES. 

PRESIDENT. 

VICE- 
PRESIDENT. 

No.  entitled  to  vote. 

Thomas  Jefferson, 
of  Virginia. 

Charles  C.  Pinckney, 
of  South  Carolina. 

fti 

•& 

U£ 

<Q  1> 

£5 

vo 
O 

j] 

If 

a 

3  O 

tf 

Connecticut 

9 
3 

2 

6 

8 
9 
19 
7 
8 
19 
14 
3 
20 
4 
10 
5 
6 
24 

9 
3 

2 

9 
3 
6 
8 
11 
19 
7 
8 
19 
14 
3 
20 
4 
10 
5 
6 
24 

Delaware  

6 
8 
9 
19 
7 
8 
19 
14 
3 
20 
4 
10 
5 
6 
24 

Georgia 

Kentucky 

Maryland     .  . 

Massachusetts.                

New  Hampshire     

New  Jersey  

New  York  

North  Carolina 

Ohio 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode  Island 

South  Carolina  

Tennessee  

Vermont  

Virginia  

Total        

162 

14 

162 

14 

176 

.1  \\1KS   MADISON 


THE  MADISON-PINCKNEY-CLINTON 
CONTESTS 

1808-12 


THE  election  of  Jefferson  ended  the  line  of  the  succession 
to  the  Presidency  from  the  Vice-Presidency.  Adams  as 
Vice-President  succeeded  Washington  as  President,  and 
Jefferson  as  Vice-President  succeeded  Adams,  but  the  Burr 
fiasco  made  it  impossible  for  the  succession  to  be  maintained, 
and  for  many  years  the  line  of  succession  to  the  Presidency 
was  in  the  Premiers  of  the  administration.  Indeed  during 
the  entire  century  from  1800  to  1900  but  one  Vice-President 
has  been  elected  to  the  Presidency.  That  single  exception 
was  Martin  Van  Buren,  and  he  started  under  the  Jackson 
administration  as  Premier.  Madison,  who  was  Secretary 
of  State  under  Jefferson,  succeeded  Jefferson  to  the  Presi- 
dency; Monroe,  Secretary  of  State  under  Madison,  suc- 
ceeded Madison  as  President;  John  Quincy  Adams,  Secre- 
tary of  State  under  Monroe,  succeeded  Monroe  as  President, 
and  since  that  time  Buchanan  was  the  only  Secretary  of  State 
who  reached  the  Presidency,  although  Webster,  Cass  and 
Elaine,  who  were  Premiers  under  several  administrations, 
were  defeated  in  Presidential  contests. 

Madison  was  generally  regarded  as  the  favorite  of  Jeffer- 
son for  the  succession,  and  Jefferson's  power  at  that  time 
was  second  only  to  the  power  of  Washington  in  dictating 
who  should  succeed  him  to  the  highest  honor  of  the  Repub- 
lic. Irritating  opposition  to  Madison  came  from  his  own 
State  of  Virginia,  wfhere  the  friends  of  Monroe  were  quite 
aggressive.  Two  caucuses  had  been  held  in  the  Virginia 
Legislature,  one  by  the  friends  of  Madison,  and  the  other, 
much  smaller  in  number,  by  the  friends  of  Monroe,  and  both 
were  thus  formally  presented  to  the  country  to  succeed  Jef- 
ferson. 

A  caucus  of  the  Republican  members  of  both  branches  of 

25 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Congress  was  called  to  meet  on  the  236  of  January,  1808.  It 
was  known  that  the  friends  of  Madison  largely  outnum- 
bered the  friends  of  Monroe  in  Congress,  and  the  active 
supporters  of  Monroe  earnestly  opposed  a  nomination  by  the 
Congressional  caucus.  The  caucus  was  held,  however,  and 
was  attended  by  a  majority  of  the  Senators  and  Represen- 
tatives, and  Madison  was  nominated  on  the  1st  ballot,  re- 
ceiving 83  votes  to  3  for  Monroe  and  3  for  George  Clinton. 
Monroe  had  a  considerably  larger  strength  in  Congress,  but 
the  result  was  predetermined,  and  a  number  of  them  did  not 
participate.  George  Clinton  was  nominated  by  substantially 
the  same  vote  for  Vice-President.  The  caucus  system  was 
under  fire,  and  the  caucus,  in  justification  of  its  own  act, 
adopted  a  resolution  declaring  that  in  making  the  nomina- 
tions the  members  had  "  acted  only  in  their  individual  char- 
acters as  citizens,"  and  because  it  was  "  the  most  practical 
mode  of\  consulting  and  respecting  the  interests  and  wishes 
of  all  upon  a  subject  so  truly  interesting  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States." 

It  was  a  considerable  time  before  the  friends  of  Monroe 
gave  a  cordial  adhesion  to  the  caucus  nominations,  but  Jef- 
ferson, who  was  friendly  to  both  Madison  and  Monroe,  in- 
terposed and  reconciled  the  friends  of  Monroe  by  the  ex- 
pectation that  Monroe  would  succeed  Madison ;  and  as  there 
was  practically  no  serious  opposition  to  Madison  presented 
by  the  Federalists,  the  campaign  drifted  into  the  general  ac- 
ceptance of  Madison's  election  long  before  the  election  was 
held.  The  Federalists  did  not  hold  any  caucus  or  formally 
present  candidates,  but  accepted  Pinckney  and  King,  for 
whom  they  had  voted  in  the  last  contest  against  Jefferson. 

In  the  New  England  States  vigorous  contests  were  made 
by  the  Federalists  to  regain  the  supremacy  they  had  lost,  and 
New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island,  which 
had  voted  for  Jefferson,  were  regained  by  the  Federalists, 
but  the  struggle  was  not  made  with  any  hope  of  defeating 
Madison  for  President.  There  had  been  no  increase  in  the 
number  of  States  nor  in  the  vote  of  the  electoral  colleges. 
Madison  won  an  easy  and  decisive  victory,  receiving  122 
electoral  votes  to  47  for  Pinckney  and  6  for  George  Clinton, 
who  was  the  regular  nominee  of  the  Republicans  for  Vice- 
President,  and  who  was  elected  to  that  office  by  113  electoral 
votes  to  47  for  King  and  15  scattering.  New  York  was  ob- 
viously disaffected,  as  while  the  Republican  caucus  had  ac- 

26 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

corded  to  Clinton  of  that  State  the  second  place  on  the  ticket, 
and  elected  him  Vice-President,  the  electoral  vote  of  New 
York  was  divided,  Madison  receiving  13  to  6  cast  for  Clin- 
ton, and  in  the  same  electoral  college  Clinton  received  13 
votes  for  Vice-President  to  3  for  Madison  and  3  for  Monroe. 
The  votes  of  North  Carolina  and  Maryland  were  also 
divided,  but  that  was  not  unusual,  as  after  Washington  re- 
tired the  electoral  votes  of  those  States  were  divided,  because 
their  electors  were  chosen  by  Congressional  districts. 

There  is  no  intelligent  record  of  the  popular  vote,  and  it 
would  be  needless  to  attempt  to  present  it,  as  outside  of  New 
England  the  States  which  were  contested  generally  chose 
their  electors  by  the  Legislature.  The  following  is  the  vote 
in  detail  as  cast  in  the  Electoral  College : 


STATES. 

PRESIDENT. 

VICE-PRESIDENT. 

James  Madison, 
of  Virginia. 

Charles  C.  Pinckney, 
of  South  Carolina. 

0*0 

O 

Vacancies. 

i  Clinton, 
sw  York. 

4 

8 

Madison, 
rginia. 

2.5 

I'l 

•s. 
V 

titled  to  vote. 

8-S 

15 

3  O 

J-S 

3> 
|o 

aiL 

<uP» 

!° 

Vacan< 

8 

d 
fc 

Connecticut  

6 

7 
9 

8 
13 
11 
3 
20 

10 
5 
6 

24 

122 

9 
3 

2 

19 

7 

3 
4 

47 

6 

1 
1 

6 

7 
9 

8 
13 
11 

20 

10 
5 

24 
113 

9 
3 

2 

19 

7 

3 

4 

IT" 

3 

6 

3 

3 

1 
1 

9 
3 
6 

8 
11 
19 
7 
8 
19 
14 
3 
20 
4 
10 
5 
6 
24 

176 

Delaware  

Georgia         

Kentucky*  

Maryland  

Massachusetts  

New  Hampshire  

New  Jersey  

New  York 

North  Carolina 

Ohio 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode  Island   

South  Carolina  

Tennessee  

Vermont  

Virginia  

Total  

*  One  Kentucky  elector  did  not  attend.     The  State  was  entitled  to  8  votes. 

27 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

The  battle  for  Madison's  second  election  in  1812  began 
in  the  early  period  of  our  second  war  with  Great  Britain. 
Many  complicated  foreign  questions  excited  earnest  discus- 
sion and  renewed  the  partisan  bitterness  of  the  earlier  na- 
tional contests,  while  the  struggle  for  the  renewal  of  the 
charter  of  the  United  States  bank  convulsed  financial  and 
business  circles.  The  bill  was  lost  by  indefinite  postpone- 
ment in  the  House  in  1811  by  a  single  vote,  and  soon  there- 
after a  like  bill  was  rejected  in  the  Senate  by  the  casting  vote 
of  the  Vice-President.  Madison  did  not  possess  the  breadth 
of  statesmanship  so  grandly  exhibited  by  Jefferson,  and  he 
lacked  in  the  positive  qualities  needed  to  meet  the  grave 
issues  which  confronted  him.  He  parried  our  foreign  ques- 
tions with  almost  endless  diplomatic  correspondence,  and  in 
the  conduct  of  the  war  he  lacked  in  the  settled  purpose  and 
methods  which  are  always  necessary  to  sustain  a  government 
in  such  a  crisis. 

It  was  then  that  Clay  came  to  the  front  as  Commoner  of 
the  nation,  and  it  was  his  able,  eloquent,  and  inspiring  utter- 
ances and  actions,  aided  by  Senator  Crawford,  of  Georgia, 
that  saved  the  administration  when  it  was  apparently  threat- 
ened with  defeat.  Madison  was  unwilling  to  accept  war 
with  England  until  it  became  clearly  evident  that  he  must 
declare  war  or  give  the  Federalists  a  restoration  to  power, 
and  it  was  only  after  he  had  been  very  earnestly  appealed  to 
by  the  men  upon  whom  he  had  most  to  depend,  that  he  sent 
a  message  to  Congress  pointing  out  the  necessity  of  a  decla- 
ration of  war,  to  which  both  branches  in  secret  sessions  gave 
their  approval. 

It  was  not  until  after  Madison  had  decided  upon  an  ag- 
gressive war  policy  with  England  that  the  Congressional 
caucus  was  called  to  nominate  Republican  candidates  for 
President  and  Vice-President.  The  caucus  met  on  the  I2th 
of  May  apparently  without  objection,  and  Madison  was  re- 
nominated  by  a  unanimous  vote,  only  one  member  present 
declining  to  vote.  Clinton  had  died  in  office,  and  a  new  nom- 
ination had  to  be  made  for  Vice-President.  John  Langdon, 
of  New  Hampshire,  who  was  the  first  Senator  to  be  Presi- 
dent pro  tern,  of  the  body,  was  nominated  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent, receiving  64  votes  to  16  for  Elbridge  Gerry  and  2  scat- 
tering. Langdon  declined  the  nomination,  and  the  second 
caucus  was  convened  when  Gerry  was  nominated  by  a  vote 
of  74  to  3  scattering.  While  the  proceedings  of  the  caucus 

28 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

were  apparently  very  harmonious,  there  was  significance  in 
the  fact  that  some  50  Republican  Senators  and  Representa- 
tives did  not  attend,  only  one  being  present  from  New  York 
State. 

The  reason  for  the  New  York  members  declining  to  at- 
tend the  caucus  was  soon  developed  by  a  counter  movement, 
made  in  New  York,  to  bring  out  DeWitt  Clinton,  who  was 
the  leader  of  the  Republicans  of  that  State,  as  the  candidate 
in  opposition  to  Madison.  The  Federalists  had  no  part  in 
making  him  the  competitor  of  Madison,  but  they  were  quite 
willing,  in  their  utter  helplessness,  to  support  any  bolt 
against  the  omnipotence  of  the  Republican  caucus.  Many 
of  the  Republicans  thought  that  the  administration  was  not 
sufficiently  aggressive  in  its  opposition  to  England,  and 
many  others  opposed  Madison  and  were  ready  to  support 
Clinton  or  any  other  promising  candidate  who  was  entirely 
opposed  to  the  war.  Had  Clinton  acted  in  harmony  with  the 
Republicans  and  supported  Madison,  he  would  have  been  a 
very  formidable  competitor  of  Monroe  for  the  succession, 
but  in  allowing  himself  to  be  made  a  candidate  of  the  opposi- 
tion, he  entirely  lost  his  position  as  a  Republican  leader. 

Madison  had  been  nominated  by  the  Republican  Congres- 
sional caucus  on  the  I2th  of  May,  and  on  the  2Qth  of  May 
a  caucus  of  the  Republican  members  of  the  New  York  Leg- 
islature was  held,  at  which  91  of  the  93  members  were  pres- 
ent, and  they  unanimously  nominated  Clinton  as  a  candidate 
for  President,  and  the  Federalists  gradually  dropped  into  his 
support.  The  Federalists  took  no  formal  action  for  the 
selection  of  candidates  until  September,  when  a  conference  of 
the  leaders  of  that  party  was  held  in  New  York,  with  repre- 
sentatives from  1 1  States,  and  that  conference  nominated 
Clinton  for  President  with  Jared  Ingfersoll  forVice-President. 

The  campaign  logically  drifted  into  a  square  issue  between 
the  war  and  the  peace  parties,  and  even  with  all  the  factional 
hostility  to  Madison  in  the  Republican  ranks,  such  an  issue 
could  result  only  in  the  success  of  the  party  that  sustained  the 
Government  in  its  war  with  England.  The  Federalists  car- 
ried a  solid  New  England  vote  for  Clinton  with  the  excep- 
tion of  Vermont,  that  broke  loose  from  her  Federal  moor- 
ings and  cast  her  entire  electoral  vote  for  Madison.  New 
York,  with  the  largest  electoral  vote  of  any  State,  was  car- 
ried chiefly  by  Clinton's  personal  popularity,  and  New  Jer- 
sey was  lost  to  Madison  in  disregard  of  the  popular  vote  of 

29 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

the  State  by  a  Federal  Senate  and  House  that  was  suc- 
cessful against  a  Republican  majority  by  reason  of  the  pe- 
culiar shaping  of  the  legislative  districts.  The  Legisla- 
ture repealed  the  law  for  the  choice  of  electors  by  a  popular 
vote,  and  elected  Federal  electors  by  the  Legislature.  Had 
the  popular  vote  of  New  Jersey  prevailed,  the  vote  between 
Madison  and  Clinton  in  the  Electoral  College  would  have 
been  136  for  Madison  to  81  for  Clinton.  The  following  is 
the  vote  as  cast  by  the  electoral  colleges : 


STATES. 

PRESIDENT. 

VICE-PRESIDENT. 

No.  entitled  to  vote. 
1 

James  Madison, 
of  Virginia. 

De  Witt  Clinton, 
of  New  York. 

Vacancies. 

Elbridge  Gerry, 
of  Massachusetts. 

Jared  Ingersoll, 
of  Pennsylvania. 

Vacancies. 

Connecticut  

8 
12 
3 
6 

15  . 

7 
25 

11 
8 
8 
25 

9 

4 

5 
22 
8 
8 
29 

4 

1 

8 
12 
3 
6 
2 
1 

15 

7 
25 

11 
8 
8 
25 

9 

4 

1 

9 
4 
8 
12 
3 
11 
22 
8 
8 
29 
15 
8 
25 
4 
11 
8 
8 
25 

Delaware 

Georgia  

Kentucky  

5 

20 
7 
8 
29 

4 

Louisiana  

Maryland  

Massachusetts  

New  Hampshire  
New  Jersey  

New  York  

North  Carolina  
Ohio 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode  Island  . 

South  Carolina.. 

Tennessee  

Vermont  

Virginia  

Total  

128 

89 

1 

131 

86 

1 

218 

Louisiana  was  admitted  into  the  Union  on  the  8th  of 
April,  1812,  and  participated  in  the  Presidential  election, 
making  18  States.  It  will  be  seen  that  there  was  but  one 
State  that  cast  a  divided  electoral  vote.  Maryland  continued 


3° 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

to  choose  all  but  the  electors  at  large  by  Congressional  dis- 
tricts, and  gave  6  votes  to  Madison  and  5  to  Clinton.  North 
Carolina  changed  her  method  of  electing  by  districts  to  the 
choice  of  electors  by  the  Legislature,  thus  making  her  elec- 
toral vote  solid.  Gerry,  the  candidate  for  Vice-President  on 
the  ticket  with  Madison,  received  3  more  votes  in  the  Elec- 
toral College  than  were  given  to  Madison,  one  of  which 
came  from  New  Hampshire  and  two  from  Massachusetts. 


THE  MONROE  ELECTIONS 

1816-20 


THE  election  of  James  Monroe  to  the  Presidency  in  1816 
and  his  re-election  in  1820  did  not  rise  to  the  dignity  of 
political  contests.  The  Federal  party  was  practically  over- 
thrown by  the  success  of  the  war  with  England,  and  after 
the  close  of  the  war  Federalism  never  asserted  itself  as 
a  political  factor  in  national  affairs.  There  were  murmurings 
of  discontent  in  the  Republican  organization,  but  the  Fed- 
eralists were  then  in  the  unenviable  attitude  of  having 
sympathized  with  the  enemy  in  a  foreign  war,  and  the 
prejudices  of  the  patriotic  people  of  the  country  were  in- 
tensified against  the  action  of  the  Hartford  convention,  for 
which  the  Federalists  were  held  responsible. 

Whether  justly  or  unjustly,  it  was  believed  by  the  Repub- 
licans throughout  the  country  that  the  Hartford  convention- 
ists  had  given  "  blue-light "  signals  to  the  enemy's  ships, 
and  thereby  hindered  the  escape  of  American  vessels  which 
were  blockaded.  The  overthrow  of  Federalism  was  so 
complete  that  the  party  never  again  formally  presented 
candidates  for  President  and  Vice-President,  and  the  first 
Monroe  election  of  1816  would  probably  have  been  as  unani- 
mous in  the  Electoral  College  as  was  his  second  election  but 
for  the  fact  that  the  three  Federal  States  which  voted  against 
Monroe  did  not  hold  popular  elections  for  President  at  all, 
but  chose  their  electors  by  the  Legislature.  Massachusetts, 
the  home  of  Adams,  that  had  always  chosen  Presidential 
electors  by  popular  vote,  repealed  the  law  in  1816,  so  that 
there  was  not  a  single  elector  chosen  by  the  people  against 
Monroe. 

While  Monroe's  two  elections  and  administrations  are 
now  pointed  to  as  the  "  era  of  good  feeling,"  that  has  never 
been  repeated  in  this  country,  Monroe  himself  did  not 

12 


JAMES   MONROE 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

reach  the  Presidency  by  the  rosy  path  that  would  now  be 
naturally  accepted  for  him  in  his  journey  to  the  highest 
civil  trust  of  the  nation.  The  usual  Congressional  caucus 
was  called  on  the  loth  of  March,  1816,  asking  the  Republican 
Senators  and  Representatives  to  meet  on  the  I2th  for  the 
purpose  of  nominating  candidates  for  President  and  Vice- 
President.  Only  58  of  the  141  Republican  members  attended 
this  meeting,  and,  instead  of  taking  action,  a  resolution  was 
passed  calling  a  general  caucus  for  the  i6th,  and  at  that 
caucus  118  members  appeared.  There  were  strong  and 
widespread  prejudices  against  the  Congressional  caucus 
system,  and  it  was  denounced  by  many  prominent  Repub- 
licans as  "  King  Caucus"  that  sought  to  control  the  people 
in  the  selection  of  the  highest  officers. 

Senator  Crawford,  of  Georgia,  who  had  been  the  leading 
Senator,  as  Clay  was  the  leading  Representative,  in  the 
support  of  the  war  during  the  Madison  administration,  was 
an  aggressive  candidate  for  President,  and  was  more  popular 
with  the  politicians  generally  throughout  the  country  than 
was  Monroe.  Great  anxiety  was  felt  about  the  probable 
action  of  the  caucus,  as  it  was  feared  that  Monroe  might  be 
overthrown,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  he  was  favored 
by  both  Jefferson  and  Madison.  When  the  caucus  met  with 
twenty-three  Republican  absentees,  the  majority  of  whom 
absented  themselves  because  they  were  positively  opposed 
to  the  caucus  system,  Mr.  Clay  offered  a  resolution  declaring 
it  inexpedient  to  nominate  candidates,  but  his  proposition 
failed.  He  thus  put  himself  on  record  as  early  as  1816 
against  the  caucus  system,  and  he  rejected  and  took  the  field 
against  it  as  a  candidate  in  1824. 

The  canvass  between  Monroe  and  Crawford  was  very 
animated,  and  Monroe  succeeded  by  only  n  majority,  the 
vote  being  65  for  Monroe  and  54  for  Crawford.  Governor 
Daniel  D.  Tompkins,  of  New  York,  was  nominated  for 
Vice-President,  receiving  20  votes  more  than  were  given 
to  Monroe.  The  Crawford  sentiment  was  strong  in  New 
York  and  New  Jersey,  as  well  as  in  North  Carolina,  Ken- 
tucky, and  his  native  State  of  Georgia,  and  public  meetings 
were  held  in  different  sections  of  the  country  after  the  nomi- 
nations had  been  made,  denouncing  the  caucus  system,  at 
one  of  which  Roger  B.  Taney,  who  later  became  Chief 
Justice,  was  one  of  the  aggressive  opponents. 

Had  there  been  a  formidable  Federal  party,  it  is  doubtful 

33 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


whether  Monroe's  election  might  not  have  been  seriously 
imperilled,  but  the  war  feeling  was  too  fresh  in  the  minds 
of  the  people  to  tolerate  anything  that  was  in  sympathy  with 
that  expiring  political  organization.  The  Republicans  who 
were  opposed  to  Monroe  had  to  choose  between  falling  in 
with  the  caucus  nomination,  and  giving  Monroe  a  unanimous 
support,  or  making  a  square  fight  as  a  bolting  Republican 
faction,  without  permitting  the  aid  of  the  Federalists.  As 
that  was  impracticable,  the  Republican  discontent  gradually 
subsided  and  the  election  of  Monroe  was  conceded  by  all. 

The  Federalists  made  no  nomination,  but  supported  Rufus 
King,  one  of  their  old  national  candidates,  and  scattered 
their  few  votes  for  Vice-President,  no  two  of  the  three  States 
voting  for  the  same  candidate.  Indiana  had  adopted  a  State 
Constitution  in  June,  but  was  not  formally  admitted  to  the 
Union  until  the  nth  of  December,  after  the  Presidential 
election  had  been  held.  The  State,  however,  had  voted  for 
President,  and  elected  three  Republican  electors  for  Monroe, 
but  an  animated  dispute  arose  in  Congress  about  counting 
the  vote,  because  of  the  alleged  ineligibility  of  Indiana  to 
vote  for  President  when  not  formally  admitted  into  the 
Union,  even  though  the  people  had  adopted  a  State  Consti- 
tution several  months  before  the  election.  The  two  bodies 
separated,  to  enable  the  House  to  decide  the  issue,  but  finally 
the  question  was  postponed  by  a  nearly  unanimous  vote,  and 
the  Senate  invited  to  return,  when  the  vote  was  declared  as 
follows : 


PRESIDENT. 

VICE-PRESIDENT. 

rt 

"3 

i 

bo 

I* 

> 

«f 

> 

* 

G 

p 

4) 

^ 

rt 

^ 

STATES. 

o 

'A 

a 

•0 

c 

t 

> 

James  Monroe, 

Rufus  King,  of 

Vacancies. 

i* 

9 

Q& 

!,-•  4> 

Lfifc 

I* 

John  E.  Howar 
of  Maryland. 

James  Ross, 
of  Pennsylva 

John  Marshall, 
of  Virginia. 

\  Robert  G.  Har 
of  Maryland 

Vacancies. 

No.  entitled  to 

Connecticut 

9 

5 

4 

9 

Delaware 

8 

1 

_. 

,  „ 

3 

1 

4 

Georgia 

8 
3 

8 
3 

- 

= 

- 

8 
3 

Indiana             

34 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


STATES. 

PRESIDENT. 

VICE-PRESIDENT. 

No.  entitled  to  vote. 

James  Monroe,  of  Virginia. 

Rufus  King,  of  New  York. 

Vacancies. 

Daniel  D.  Tompkins, 
of  New  York. 

John  E.  Howard, 
of  Maryland. 

James  Ross, 
of  Pennsylvania. 

John  Marshall, 
of  Virginia. 

Robert  G.  Harper, 
of  Maryland. 

Vacancies. 

Kentucky       

12 
3 

8 

8 
8 
29 
15 
8 
25 
4 
11 
8 
8 
25 

183 

22 
"34 

3 

~T 

12 
3 

8 

8 
8 
29 
15 
8 
25 
4 
11 
8 
8 
25 

183 

22 
Ij2~ 

5 

4 

3 

3 
4 

12 
3 
11 
22 
8 
8 
29 
15 
8 
25 
4 
11 
8 
8 
25 

221 

Louisiana  

Maryland  

Massachusetts 

New  Hampshire 

New  Jersey 

New  York        .... 

North  Carolina.  .         .         .... 

Ohio       

Pennsylvania  

Rhode  Island  

South  Carolina 

Tennessee 

Vermont 

Virginia  

Total    . 

Monroe's  re-election  in  1820  presents  the  singular  political 
spectacle  of  his  success  without  having  been  formally  nomi- 
nated by  any  party,  and  without  a  single  electoral  vote  being 
chosen  against  him.  That  had  occurred  in  Washington's 
two  elections,  but  it  was  not  believed  possible  that,  with  the 
bitter  partisan  disputes  which  immediately  followed  Wash- 
ington's retirement,  any  man  could  ever  be  chosen  for  the 
Presidency  without  more  or  less  of  a  contest.  Monroe's 
administration  had  no  serious  political  or  diplomatic  prob- 
lem to  confront  it,  and  the  country  was  rapidly  recovering 
from  the  war  and  proud  of  the  achievements  of  the  American 
army  and  navy  in  the  second  contest  with  the  English. 

Monroe  was  naturally  cautious  and  conservative.  There 
was  nothing  aggressive  in  the  policy  of  his  administration, 
and  really  no  occasion  to  invite  aggression.  The  Federal 
Party  was  practically  extinct,  and  the  Republicans  were  in 

35 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


thorough  accord  with  the  Monroe  administration.  A  feeble 
movement  was  made  early  in  1820  to  supersede  Monroe,  but 
it  never  attained  importance,  and  even  those  who  attempted 
it  denied  responsibility  for  it.  The  usual  Republican  Con- 
gressional caucus  was  called,  and  very  few  members  took 
the  trouble  to  attend  it,  as  there  was  really  nothing  to  do; 
and  it  was  deemed  better  for  the  party  to  accept  Monroe 
and  Tompkins  for  re-election  than  to  have  formal  nomina- 
tions made  by  a  very  few  representatives  of  the  party. 
Monroe  and  Tompkins  were  thus  accepted  without  any 
formalities  whatever  as  the  Republican  candidates  for  Presi- 
dent and  Vice-President,  and  no  opposing  candidates  were 
presented  in  any  way  whatever  of  which  I  can  find  any 
record  or  tradition.  Monroe  thus  ran  in  1820,  as  Washing- 
ton did  at  both  his  elections,  without  opposition,  and  every 
electoral  vote  of  the  nation  was  chosen  for  him. 

Five  new  States  had  been  admitted  and  participated  in 
the  election  of  1820.  Mississippi  came  in  December,  1817; 
Illinois  in  December,  1818;  Alabama  in  December,  1819; 
Maine  in  March,  1820,  and  Missouri  had  adopted  a  Consti- 
tution in  July,  1820,  and  although  not  formally  admitted 
into  the  Union  until  August,  1821,  the  vote  of  that  State 
was  counted,  as  was  the  vote  of  Indiana  in  1816.  The 
following  is  the  official  vote  as  announced  by  Congress : 


STATES. 

PRESIDENT. 

VICE-PRESIDENT. 

No.  entitled  to  vote. 

James  Monroe, 
of  Virginia. 

oT 

a« 

cat: 

13  <D 

<$ 

if 

Po 

Vacancies. 

Daniel  D.  Tompkins, 
of  New  York. 

Richard  Stockton, 
of  New  Jersey. 

Daniel  Rodney, 
of  Delaware. 

Robert  G.  Harper, 
of  Maryland. 

Richard  Rush, 
of  Pennsylvania. 

Vacancies. 

Alabama  

3 
9 
4 
8 
3 
3 
12 

- 

- 

3 
9 

8 
3 
3 

12 

- 

4 

- 

- 

- 

3 
9 
4 
8 
3 
8 
12 

Connecticut 

Delaware   

Georgia.  . 

f,,.    5    
Illinois  

Indiana  

Kentucky 

AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


STATES. 

PRESIDENT. 

VICE-PRESIDENT  . 

No.  entitled  to  vote. 

James  Monroe, 
of  Virginia. 

•£ 

II 

<% 

5-8 

c  - 

1 

Vacancies. 

Daniel  D.  Tompkins, 
of  New  York. 

Richard  Stockton, 
of  New  Jersey. 

Daniel  Rodney, 
of  Delaware. 

Robert  G.  Harper, 
of  Maryland. 

Richard  Rush, 
of  Pennsylvania. 

Vacancies. 

3 

9 
11 
15 
2 
3 
7 
8 
29 
15 
8 
24 
4 
11 
7 
8 
25 

231 

- 

1 

3 
9 

10 
7 
2 
3 

3 

9 
11 
15 
3 
3 
8 
8 
29 
15 
8 
25 
4 
11 
8 
8 
25 

235 

Maine             

8 

- 

1 

- 

1 

Maryland          ... 

Massachusetts    

Missouri 

New  Hampshire  

1 

1 

1 
1 

~3~ 

7 
8 
29 
15 
8 
24 
4 
11 
7 
8 
25 

218 

~S 

"T 

~ 

1 

~T 

1 
1 

~3 

New  Jersey 

New  York                  .    . 

North  Carolina        

Ohio          

Pennsylvania*   

Rhode  Island  

South  Carolina 

Tennessee* 

Vermont 

Virginia                             .   ... 

Total  

*  One  elector  in  each  of  the  States  of  Pennsylvania,  Mississippi,  and  Tennessee 
died  after  appointment,  and  before  the  meetings  of  the  electors. 

Only  a  single  electoral  vote  was  cast  against  Monroe,  and 
that  was  given  by  William  Plumer,  who  was  at  the  head  of 
the  Republican  electoral  ticket  in  New  Hampshire.  All  the 
histories  of  this  vote  which  I  have  seen  declare  that  Plumer 
voted  for  John  Quincy  Adams  instead  of  Monroe  solely  for 
the  purpose  of  making  Washington  stand  alone  as  unani- 
mously chosen  by  the  electoral  college.  In  the  Life  of 
Plumer,  issued  by  his  son  many  years  ago,  he  gives  his 
father's  own  statement  as  to  his  reasons  for  voting  against 
Monroe.  He  regarded  Monroe  as  a  weak  man,  and  con- 
demned him  because  under  his  rule  we  had  reached  "the 
same  spirit  of  profusion  and  waste  in  granting  money  here, 
as  in  England." 

Monroe's  administrations  were  uneventful  beyond  the 
assertion  of  what  has  ever  since  been  known  as  the  Monroe 
Doctrine,  that  was  evolved  by  Monroe  and  John  Quincy 

37 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

Adams,  his  Secretary  of  State,  and  the  first  serious  contest 
in  Congress  over  the  Slavery  issue,  growing  out  of  the 
admission  of  Missouri  as  a  State.  After  the  admission  of 
Louisiana  as  a  State  the  remainder  of  the  territory  embrac- 
ing the  Louisiana  purchase  was  organized  as  the  Territory 
of  Missouri,  and  in  1818  the  portion  of  the  territory  now 
embraced  in  the  State  of  Missouri  applied  for  admission 
into  the  Union  as  a  State.  In  1819  the  House  passed  a  bill 
for  the  admission  of  Missouri,  with  a  clause  prohibiting 
slavery,  but  it  was  not  accepted  by  the  Senate. 

In  1820  the  Senate  sent  a  bill  to  the  House  for  the  admis- 
sion of  Maine,  and  authorizing  the  organization  of  the 
State  of  Missouri.  The  House  had  already  passed  a  bill 
for  the  admission  of  Maine,  but  it  refused  to  accept  the 
Senate's  provision  relating  to  Missouri.  There  was  very 
violent  agitation  on  the  Slavery  question  for  some  time,  and 
many  feared  that  it  would  end  in  the  disruption  of  the 
Union;  but  Clay  became  the  pacificator,  and  chiefly  by  his 
efforts  what  has  ever  since  been  known  as  the  Missouri 
Compromise  was  accepted,  admitting  Missouri  as  a  slave 
State,  but  prohibiting  slavery  in  all  of  the  Louisiana  terri- 
tory north  of  36  degrees  and  30  minutes  north  latitude. 
This  compromise  did  not  fully  satisfy  either  side,  but  it 
was  accepted,  and  on  the  loth  of  August,  1821,  President 
Monroe  proclaimed  the  admission  of  Missouri  into  the 
Union. 

Monroe  had  the  most  unruffled  period  of  rule  ever  known 
in  the  history  of  the  Republic.  Washington,  with  all  his 
omnipotence,  was  fearfully  beset  by  factional  strife  and  the 
wrangles  of  ambition  on  every  side,  and  there  was  no  period 
of  his  two  administrations  in  which  he  was  not  greatly 
fretted  by  the  persistent  and  often  desperate  disputes  among 
those  who  should  have  been  his  friends;  but  Monroe  had 
an  entirely  peaceful  reign,  with  the  single  exception  of  the 
slavery  dispute  over  the  Missouri  question,  and  at  the  close 
of  his  term  he  retired  to  his  home  in  Virginia  entirely 
exhausted  in  fortune.  For  several  years  he  acted  as  a 
Justice  of  the  Peace,  but  his  severely  straitened  circum- 
stances finally  compelled  him  to  make  his  home  with  his 
son-in-law  in  New  York,  where  he  died  in  1831,  and,  like 
Jefferson  and  Adams,  on  the  4th  of  July. 


JOHN   QUINCY  ADAMS 


THE  ADAMS-JACKSON-CRAWFORD- 
CLAY  CONTEST 

1824 

WITH  the  re-election  of  Monroe  in  1820,  the  Federal  party 
had  perished  as  a  political  factor ;  "  King  Caucus,"  as  the 
Congressional  caucus  for  nominating  national  candidates 
had  been  generally  designated,  had  fulfilled  its  mission,  and 
none  pretended  that  it  could  be  revived  to  name  the  successor 
of  Monroe.  As  Federalism  was  unfelt  and  unfeared,  and  as 
the  Congressional  caucus  had  lost  its  prestige  and  power,  the 
Presidential  field  of  1824  invited  a  free-for-all  race,  and  the 
discussion  of  the  succession  began  actively  as  early  as  1822. 
It  seems  unaccountable  that  the  Republicans,  after  having 
had  the  benefit  of  the  Congressional  caucus  to  concentrate 
their  vote  on  national  candidates,  did  not  conceive  the  idea 
of  a  general  conference  of  representative  Republicans  from 
the  different  States  to  unite  them  on  candidates  for  Presi- 
dent and  Vice-President,  but  no  national  convention  was 
ever  held  by  any  party  until  the  anti-Masons  inaugurated  it 
in  Philadelphia  in  1830,  two  years  before  the  Presidential 
election  of  1832. 

As  there  was  practically  no  Federal  party,  none  but  Re- 
publicans were  discussed  for  the  succession  to  Monroe.  It 
is  a  common  but  erroneous  idea  that  John  Quincy  Adams 
was  in  harmony  with  the  Federal  sentiment  of  his  State  and 
New  England  generally.  After  having  filled  a  number  of 
important  offices,  principally  in  diplomatic  circles,  he  was 
elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  as  a  Federalist  by  the 
Massachusetts  Legislature  in  1802,  but  he  heartily  sup- 
ported the  administration  of  Jefferson,  resulting  in  instruc- 
tions passed  by  the  Legislature  demanding  that  he  should 
change  his  political  policy.  He  refused  to  obey  the  Legis- 
lative instructions,  but  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  and 
thenceforth  he  acted  uniformly  with  the  Republicans,  and 
was  Secretary  of  State  during  the  eight  years  of  Monroe's 
administration. 

39 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

While  very  many  candidates  were  discussed  for  the  suc- 
cession, when  the  time  came  for  concentration  only  six 
names  remained,  and  three  of  those  were  members  of  the 
Monroe  Cabinet.  They  were  John  Quincy  Adams,  Secretary 
of  State;  John  C.  Calhoun,  Secretary  of  War;  William  H. 
Crawford,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury;  Henry  Clay,  of 
Kentucky,  who  had  been  Speaker  of  the  House ;  Ex-Gover- 
nor De  Witt  Clinton,  of  New  York,  who  was  not  then  in 
official  position,  and  General  Andrew  Jackson,  of  Tennessee, 
who  had  been  Senator,  Representative,  and  Supreme  Judge. 
Mr.  Clay  was  presented  to  the  people  as  a  candidate  for 
President  by  the  Kentucky  Legislature  as  early  as  the  i8th 
of  November,  1822,  or  two  years  before  the  election,  and  the 
Missouri  Legislature  also  adopted  a  resolution  about  the 
same  time  recommending  Mr.  Clay.  During  the  year  1823 
the  Legislatures  of  Illinois,  Ohio,  and  Louisiana  had  also 
formally  favored  Clay. 

General  Jackson  was  first  formally  named  for  the  Presi- 
dency by  a  mass-meeting  in  Blount  County,  Tenn.,  early 
in  1823,  and  that  was  followed  up  by  various  mass-meetings 
and  local  conventions  in  different  parts  of  the  Union.  Mr. 
Adams,  although  not  in  sympathy  with  the  Federalists, 
having  earnestly  supported  the  war  with  England  against 
the  Federal  sentiment  of  his  State,  was  presented  as  a  can- 
didate by  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  and  it  was 
seconded  by  most  of  the  New  England  States  during  the 
early  part  of  the  year  1824. 

Clinton  was  nominated* by  local  mass-meetings  in  New 
York  and  Ohio.  Calhoun  was  presented  by  the  Legislature 
of  South  Carolina,  and  Crawford  by  the  Legislature  of  Vir- 
ginia. It  is  worthy  of  note  that  while  Adams  was  the 
Premier  of  the  administration,  Crawford  was  obviously  the 
favorite  candidate  of  President  Monroe,  as  the  Legislature 
of  Virginia  recommended  Crawford,  and  Virginia  voted  for 
him  at  the  election. 

All  of  these  candidates  were  opposed  to  the  Congressional 
caucus  excepting  Crawford,  who  had  been  the  competitor  of 
Monroe  in  the  caucus  in  1816.  His  friends  made  earnest 
effort  to  get  the  prestige  of  a  caucus  nomination,  and  6 
Senators  and  5  Representatives  from  different  States  called 
a  caucus  to  meet  on  the  I4th  of  February,  1824,  "  to  recom- 
mend candidates  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  for  the 
office  of  President  and  Vice-President."  That  call  was  met 

40 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

by  a  card  signed  by  24  Republican  Senators  and  members 
declaring  that  of  the  261  Senators  and  Representatives  there 
were  81  who  were  opposed  to  the  caucus.  The  caucus  was 
held,  however,  but  only  66  members  appeared,  a  majority  of 
whom  were  from  4  States,  and  8  States  were  not  represented 
at  all.  A  motion  to  adjourn  to  meet  some  weeks  later  was 
opposed  by  Mr.  Van  Buren  and  rejected.  A  ballot  was  then 
had  for  President,  when  Crawford  received  64,  Adams  2, 
Jackson  I,  and  Macon  I.  Albert  Gallatin,  of  Pennsylvania, 
was  also  nominated  for  Vice-President. 

The  caucus  nomination  was  certainly  a  hindrance  rather 
than  a  help  to  Crawford,  as  it  concentrated  his  opponents 
to  a  very  large  extent.  The  caucus  system  had  become  very 
odious,  and  with  5  of  the  6  candidates  openly  hostile  to  the 
caucus,  it  placed  Crawford  at  a  decided  disadvantage.  Gal- 
latin, who  was  of  foreign  birth,  was  bitterly  assailed,  and  a 
month  before  the  election  he  withdrew  his  name  as  a  can- 
didate, but  no  attempt  was  made  to  give  formal  nomination 
to  a  successor  for  him  on  the  ticket. 

Strange  as  it  may  appear,  Pennsylvania,  the  home  of 
Gallatin,  did  not  cordially  respond  to  his  nomination,  and 
there  was  a  decided  preference  in  that  State  in  favor  of 
Calhoun  for  Vice-President.  Calhoun  and  Clinton,  being 
without  any  large  measure  of  support,  gradually  dropped 
out  of  the  Presidential  contest,  leaving  Adams,  Jackson, 
Crawford,  and  Clay  to  make  the  scrub  race.  There  were  24 
States  to  participate  in  the  election,  and  New  York,  Ver- 
mont, Delaware,  South  Carolina,  Georgia  and  Louisiana 
chose  their  electors  by  their  Legislatures,  while  Maine, 
Massachusetts,  Maryland,  Illinois,  and  Kentucky  chose  elec- 
tors by  districts,  and  in  the  other  States  popular  elections 
were  held  and  electors  chosen  by  general  ticket. 

An  incident  that  occurred  in  the  selection  of  electors  by 
the  Legislature  of  New  York  resulted  in  making  Clay  the 
fourth  candidate  in  the  Electoral  College  instead  of  the  third. 
There  were  3  of  the  electors  chosen  by  the  Legislature  who 
were  elected  as  Clay  men  by  a  combination  between  the  Clay 
and  Adams  men,  who  in  the  Electoral  College  divided  their 
votes  between  Adams,  Crawford,  and  Jackson,  and  had  they 
voted  for  Clay,  as  it  was  expected  they  would,  Clay  would 
have  had  40  votes  in  the  electoral  colleges  and  Crawford 
only  38.  As  only  the  three  highest  candidates  in  the  Elec- 
toral College  could  be  returned  to  the  House  from  which  a 

41 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


choice  had  to  be  made,  Crawford  was  thus  returned  instead 
of  Clay,  and  if  Clay  had  been  returned,  it  is  probable  that 
Adams  would  not  have  been  chosen  President.  The  New 
York  Legislature  had  a  protracted  contest  in  choosing  elec- 
tors. The  combined  strength  of  the  candidates  in  the  two 
Houses  as  shown  by  the  ist  ballot  was  60  for  Crawford,  57 
for  Adams,  and  39  for  Clay.  Finally  a  combination  was 
made  between  the  friends  of  Adams  and  Clay,  and  divided 
electors  were  chosen?1  by  which  Adams  received  26  votes, 
Crawford  5,  Clay  4,  and  Jackson  i.  In  Delaware  the  elec- 
tors were  divided  by  a  like  dispute  in  the  Legislature. 

The  contest  was  not  one  of  great  bitterness,  and  in  some 
States  there  was  practically  no  contest  at  all.  Massachusetts 
and  Virginia,  for  instance,  did  not  poll  half  their  votes,  as 
they  were  really  not  contested,  one  being  conceded  to  Adams 
and  the  other  to  Crawford.  The  following  is  the  popular 
vote  of  the  States  except  where  the  electors  were  chosen  by 
the  Legislature,  as  nearly  as  it  can  be  ascertained  after  the 
most  exhaustive  investigation  of  the  records : 


STATES. 

Andrew  Jackson, 
Democrat. 

«T 
I 

tJ 

11 

i| 

>-^ 

Wm.  H.  Crawford, 
Democrat. 

Henry  Clay, 
Republican. 

Total  vote. 

Alabama  

9,443 

1,901 
7,343 
6,453 
2,330 
14,523 

2,416 
7,587 
1,542 
3,095 

1,680 
1,978 
219 

67 

13,606 
9,565 
4,709 
15,753 
23,235 
9,200 
33,496 
37,303 
5,047 
2,699 
4,750 
21,291 
36,036 
49,992 
47,355 
2,345 
20,725 
14,955 

Connecticut 

Illinois 

1,047 
5,315 
16,782 

Indiana     .... 

Kentucky 

Maine 

6,870 
14,632 
30,687 
1,694 
311 
4,107 
9,110 

Maryland  ...             

3,6^6 
6,616 
119 

1,196 
15,621 

695 

Massachusetts 

Mississippi 

3,234 

987 
643 
10,985 
20,415 
18,457 
36,100 

Missouri 

1,401 

New  Hampshire 

New  Jersey 

North  Carolina 

Ohio 

12,280 
5,440 
2,145 
216 
3,189 

19,255 
1,609 

Pennsylvania  
Rhode  Island 

4,206 
200 
312 
8,489 

Tennessee 

20,197 
2,861 

416 

Virginia  

Total  

155,872 

105,321 

44,282 

46,587 

352,062 

AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


The  popular  vote  as  given  in  the  foregoing  table  does  not 
fully  represent  the  relative  strength  of  the  opposition  can- 
didates to  Jackson.  There  were  what  were  called  "  Opposi- 
tion" tickets,  "  People's"  tickets,  and  "  Convention"  tickets 
voted  in  different  States.  It  will  be  seen  that  Jackson  re- 
ceived no  votes  in  New  England  excepting  a  few  in  New 
Hampshire,  and  in  most  of  those  States  electoral  tickets  were 
known  as  "  Opposition"  designed  to  concentrate  all  the  op- 
position to  Adams,  and  in  North  Carolina  the  Jackson  ticket 
was  voted  as  the  "  People's"  ticket,  but  no  more  intelligent 
and  satisfactory  presentation  of  the  popular  vote  can  be  gath- 
ered from  the  records  than  that  presented. 

The  following  is  the  vote  of  the  Electoral  College : 


STATES. 

PRESIDENT. 

VICE-PRESIDENT. 

Andrew  Jackson, 
of  Tennessee. 

John  Q.  Adams,  • 
of  Massachusetts. 

Wra.  H.  Crawford, 
of  Georgia. 

fs 

5c 

bS 

1° 

John  C.  Calhoun, 
of  South  Carolina. 

Nathan  Sanford, 
of  New  York. 

Nathaniel  Macon, 
of  North  Carolina. 

Andrew  Jackson, 
of  Tennessee. 

Martin  Van  Buren, 
of  New  York. 

ft 

Oc 

t£ 
1° 

Vacancies. 

No.  entitled  to  vote. 

5 

2 
5 

3 

7 
3 

8 
1 

15 

28 

11 
11 

5 

8 
3 
9 
3 
5 
14 
5 
9 
11 
15 
3 
3 
8 
8 
36 
15 
16 
28 
4 
11 
11 
7 
24 

Connecticut 

8 
1 

1 

2 
9 
3 
15 

2 
9 

14 

1 

3 
5 

7 

7 

— 

8 

9 

2 

— 

Delaware 

Georgia  

Illinois  

Indiana 

Kentucky  

Maryland  

1 

— 

10 

15 

— 

— 

1 

— 

— 

— 

Massachusetts 

Mississippi 

3 

Missouri  

8 

— 

3 

7 

Q 

— 

— 

3 

1 

— 

— 

— 

New  Hampshire  

New  York 

26 

5 

4 

29 

15 

7 

North  Carolina 

Ohio  

4 

— 

16 

88 

| 

16 

— 

— 

— 

— 

1 

Pennsylvania  

Rhode  Island 

South  Carolina  

— 

— 

11 
H 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Vermont 

7 

7 

Virginia  

24 

— 

24 

— 

— 

~2~ 

— 

Total  

99 

84 

41 

37 

182  30 

13 

9 

1 

261 

OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Jackson  led  the  popular  vote,  as  was  generally  expected, 
and  next  to  him  is  Adams,  with  Clay  third  and  Crawford 
fourth.  While  all  of  the  4  candidates  were  regarded  as  Re- 
publicans as  between  Federalism  and  Republicanism,  the 
friends  of  Adams  in  a  number  of  the  States  fought  the  battle 
under  the  title  of  National  Republicans,  and  the  supporters 
of  Jackson,  who  represented  the  more  Democratic  element 
of  the  opponents  of  Federalism,  entitled  themselves  in  some 
States  the  Democratic  Republicans.  As  was  generally  ex- 
pected, there  was  no  choice  for  President,  as  no  one  of  the  4 
candidates  had  a  majority  of  either  the  popular  or  electoral 
votes,  but  Calhoun  was  elected  Vice-President  by  a  large  ma- 
jority, having  received  the  support  of  the  Adams  men  gener- 
ally in  New  England,  and  of  the  Jackson  men  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, Maryland,  North  and  South  Carolina,  and  indeed  in 
all  of  the  Southern  States,  excepting  Georgia,  Kentucky,  and 
Missouri. 

Thus  for  the  second  time  in  the  history  of  the  Republic  the 
Presidential  election  was  remanded  to  the  House  for  final 
decision,  and  the  names  of  Jackson,  Adams,  and  Crawford, 
the  three  highest  in  the  Electoral  College,  were  returned  to 
that  body  from  which  a  choice  had  to  be  made  by  a  ma- 
jority of  the  States.  Although  Clay  had  received  less  votes 
than  Crawford,  he  was  a  very  much  more  potent  factor  in 
deciding  the  contest  between  the  three  candidates  than  Craw- 
ford could  have  been,  and  it  soon  became  evident  that  the 
friends  of  Clay  were  in  much  closer  accord  and  sympathy 
with  Adams  than  they  were  with  the  friends  of  either  Craw- 
ford or  Jackson.  Clay  certainly  had  no  love  for  Jackson,  as 
Jackson  was  not  accredited  with  any  great  qualities  of  states- 
manship, and  it  was  the  general  apprehension  that  Clay 
would  control  the  election  in  favor  of  Adams  that  made  the 
friends  of  Jackson  publish  the  accusation  of  "  bargain  and 
sale"  between  Adams  and  Clay,  by  which  Clay  was  to  make 
Adams  President  and  receive  the  position  of  Premier  under 
the  administration.  Although  the  Legislature  of  Kentucky 
had  requested  the  Congressmen  from  that  State  to  vote  for 
Jackson,  there  were  well-known  reasons,  both  public  and 
personal,  why  Clay  could  not  favor  Jackson,  and  on  the  first 
ballot  in  the  House  Adams  received  the  votes  of  13  States, 
with  7  for  Jackson  and  4  for  Crawford.  The  majority  of 
the  delegation  of  each  State  decided  how  the  vote  should  be 
cast,  and  the  following  table  shows  not  only  how  the  vote  of 

44 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


each  State  was  given,  but  the  divisions  in  the  different  del- 
egations in  deciding  between  the  three  candidates  : 


STATES.                       Adams. 

Jackson. 

Crawford. 

Vote  far- 

Maine                                             7 

Adams. 

New  Hampshire                          ff 

A^AfTi^. 

Vermont.                                      5 

Adams. 

Massachusetts.  12 
Rhode  Island                   ...         2 
Connecticut.  .                  .  .  .!        6 
..       18 
New  Jersey  1        1 
Pennsylvania  1        1 

1 

2 
5 
25 

14 

Adams. 
Adams. 
Adams. 
Adams. 
Jackson. 
Jackson. 

Delaware                             .       — 

1 

Crawford. 

Maryland 

3 

1 

Adams. 

Virginia                                .1        1 

1 

19 

Crawford. 

.h  Carolina.  1        1 
South  Carolina.  — 
Georgia.  .                           .  .        — 

A'.-barr.a  — 
Mississippi  ...                       .        — 
Louisiana  ...1 
Kentucky                            .1        8 

•2 

\- 

10 
7 

Crawford. 
Jackson. 
Crawford. 
Jackson. 
Jackson. 
Adams. 
Adams. 

Tennessee    .                              — 

9 

Jackson. 

Missouri  ...1        1 
Ohio                                   ..       10 
Indiana.  .                                     — 
Illinois.  .  .                                       1 

2~ 

2 

Adams. 
Adams. 
Jackson. 
Adams. 

-7 

71 

M 

The  administration  of  John  Quincy  Adams  will  be  re- 
garded by  the  careful  and  dispassionate  student  of  American 
history  as  the  model  government  of  the  Republic.  He  was 
the  most  accomplished  scholar  who  ever  filled  the  position, 
and  surpassed  all  others  in  general  and  accurate  intelligence. 
He  was  a  tireless  student  until  the  day  of  his  death,  and  he 
had  no  taste  and  no  fitness  for  political  manipulation.  He 
removed  but  two  men  from  office  during  his  four  years  in  the 
Presidency,  and  they  were  dismissed  for  very  good  cause, 
and  in  the  discharge  of  his  official  duties  he  looked  solely  to 
what  he  conceived  to  be  the  interests  of  the  nation. 

He  made  no  efforts  to  popularize    himself  personally; 

regarded  as  austere  and  unapproachable,  but  he  was 

always  courteous,  and  the  arts  of  the  demagogue  had  no 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

place  in  the  Executive  Mansion.  He  was  the  real  author  of 
the  Monroe  Doctrine,  and  earnestly  attempted  to  accom- 
plish what  Elaine  struggled  to  accomplish  three-quarters  of 
a  century  later — that  is,  the  unity  of  the  South  American 
governments  in  sympathy  with  our  Government.  His  Cab- 
inet was  not  in  political  harmony,  but  as  he  regarded  politics 
as  entirely  outside  of  Cabinet  duties,  he  never  took  note  of 
political  disagreements.  He  aimed  to  win  a  re-election  solely 
by  deserving  the  considerate  approval  of  the  American 
people.  After  his  defeat  he  returned  to  his  home  in  Massa- 
chusetts, but  was  soon  elected  to  Congress,  where  he  con- 
tinued until  his  death  in  1848. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  careful  methods  of  his  life  my 
own  experience  in  obtaining  his  autograph  serves  a  good 
purpose.  A  few  weeks  before  his  death,  when  I  was  the 
editor  of  a  village  newspaper  and  ambitious  to  have  the  auto- 
graphs of  the  celebrated  men  of  the  country,  I  wrote  him 
asking  for  an  autograph  letter.  I  received  no  reply,  and 
after  his  death  was  announced  I  assumed  that  the  letter  had 

fone  into  the  waste  basket ;  but  three  months  after  his  death 
received  a  letter  franked  by  Louise  Catharine  Adams 
(widows  of  Presidents  were  then  accorded  the  franking 
privilege),  and  the  envelope  contained  only  the  autograph  of 
John  Quincy  Adams,  clipped  from  a  public  document  that 
he  had  franked.  The  pressure  of  duties  had  prevented  him 
from  answering  my  letter,  but  the  fact  that  it  was  answered 
by  his  wife  so  long  after  his  death  is  evidence  that  many  let- 
ters had  accumulated,  all  of  which  were  answered  by  Mrs. 
Adams.  He  fitly  died  in  the  Capitol  of  the  nation.  He  was 
stricken  with  paralysis  during  a  session  of  the  House,  and 
died  on  the  following  day,  having  written,  as  I  believe,  the 
most  lustrous  political  record  of  any  of  our  statesmen,  with 
the  single  exception  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


ANDREW    JACKSON 


THE  JACKSON-ADAMS-CLAY 
CONTESTS 

1828-32 

THE  election  of  Jackson  to  the  Presidency  in  1828  was  not 
in  any  sense  a  revolution  as  to  the  general  policy  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, but  it  was  a  decided  revolution  in  the  political 
methods  of  our  national  administrations.  Madison,  Mon- 
roe, and  Adams  were  not  confronted  by  the  spoils  system. 
They  never  entertained  the  question  of  removing  men  from 
office  to  reward  political  friends  or  to  punish  political 
enemies. 

The  civil  service  system  of  the  Government  under  those 
administrations  was  an  ideal  system,  but  the  Jackson  lead- 
ers openly  inspired  the  followers  of  their  favorite  to  earnest 
political  action  by  the  declaration  that  "  to  the  victors  belong 
the  spoils."  That  slogan  was  first  heard  in  the  Jackson- 
Adams  campaign  of  1828,  and  when  Jackson  succeeded, 
for  the  first  time  Washington  was  overrun  with  a  countless 
host  of  greedy  spoilsmen,  clamoring  for  the  dismissal  of 
every  man  who  had  not  supported  Jackson. 

Jackson  himself  was  thoroughly  committed  to  the  policy 
of  political  proscription,  and  from  that  day  until  the  present 
time  it  has  been  generally  accepted  that  a  change  of  politics 
in  the  national  administrations  means  a  general  change  of  the 
now  enormous  army  of  Federal  officers,  excepting  as  it  is 
feebly  restrained  by  all  parties  professing  devotion  to  a  civil 
service  system  with  none  honestly  maintaining  it. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  Jackson  was  defeated  by 
Adams  in  i824Jjaltbougb  having  more  popular  and  electoral 
.votes  than  Adams,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  friends  of 
Jackson  became  intensely  embittered,  and  they  opened  the 
campaign  of  1828  immediately  after  the  inauguration  of 
Adams  in  1825.  In  the  Southwest,  where  Jackson  lived  and 
had  his  chief  strength  outside  of  Pennsylvania,  the  cockpit, 
the  race-course  and  the  gaming-table  were  favorite  amuse- 

s  47 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

ments,  and  the  people  were  strongly  prejudiced  against  what 
they  regarded  as  the  aristocratic  power  that  had  been  main- 
tained by  the  Virginia  Presidents  and  continued  by  Adams. 
They  had  a  candidate  who  enthused  his  followers  to  the  ut- 
termost, and  the  quiet  citizens  of  Washington,  long  used  to 
the  delectable  and  cultivated  official  circles  which  had  pre- 
vailed from  Washington  to  the  second  Adams,  were  shocked 
at  the  mob  of  Democratic  place-hunters  who  crowded  into 
the  Capitol  when  Jackson  became  President,  and  had  access 
to  the  White  House  regardless  of  conventionality,  where 
Jackson  is  reported  to  have  smoked  his  corn-cob  pipe  during 
his  greeting  of  visitors.  With  Jackson  came  the  spoils  sys- 
tem that  has  done  so  much  to  demoralize  the  politics  of  the 
Republic. 

Jackson  held  a  very  strong  position  before  the  nation,  not 
only  because  of  his  triumph  over  the  British  at  New  Or- 
leans, but  because  of  the  high  civil  positions  which  he  had 
filled  with  reasonable  credit,  but  without  displaying  any  high 
standard  of  statesmanship.  He  aided  in  framing  the 
Tennessee  Constitution  in  1796,  and  was  elected  as  the  first 
Representative  in  Congress  by  the  people  after  the  admission 
of  the  State,  then  entitled  to  only  one  member. 

He  had  been  an  ardent  supporter  of  Jefferson  in  his  first 
contest  with  the  elder  Adams,  and  in  1797  he  was  elected  to 
the  United  States  Senate,  but  he  resigned  a  year  later  to  be- 
come a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  where  he 
served  until  1804,  and  was  again  elected  Senator  in  1823. 
He  had  filled  all  those  important  civil  positions  before  he  had 
attained  any  military  distinction.  He  had  served  in  the  last 
year  of  the  war  of  the  revolution  as  a  boy,  and  the  only  thing 
notable  that  is  preserved  of  his  military  record  of  that  day 
is  the  tradition  that  after  he  had  been  captured  by  the  British 
he  was  wounded  by  an  English  officer  because  he  refused  to 
clean  the  officer's  boots. 

It  is  not  likely  that  he  ever  would  have  been  a  prominent 
candidate  for  President  but  for  the  fact  that  he  defeated  the 
English  in  the  battle  of  New  Orleans  on  the  8th  of  January, 
1815.  Had  there  been  steamships,  cables,  and  telegraphs  at 
that  time  Jackson  could  never  have  commanded  the  hero 
worship  that  twice  elected  him  President  and  made  him 
practically  political  dictator. 

The  treaty  of  peace  between  England  and  the  United 
States  was  signed  at  Ghent  on  December  24,  1814,  but  it  re- 

48 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

quired  nearly  a  month  for  the  Government  to  receive  infor- 
mation that  the  treaty  had  been  signed  and  that  the  war  was 
ended.  On  January  8,  1815,  more  than  a  fortnight  after 
England  and  the  United  States  were  actually  at  peace  by 
their  own  treaty,  the  battle  of  New  Orleans  was  fought  be- 
tween Jackson  and  Packenham,  and  a  victory  achieved  over 
the  English  that  then  electrified  the  country  as  thoroughly  as 
did  Dewey's  victory  at  Manila.  That  victory,  and  that  vic- 
tory alone,  made  Jackson  President,  and  with  his  rugged  and 
indomitable  will,  for  nearly  a  generation  he  stamped  his  im- 
press upon  the  policy  of  the  Government  with  greater  em- 
phasis than  any  other  living  man  since  Washington. 

The  Presidential  contest  of  1828  formally  began  soon 
after  the  inauguration  of  Adams,  when  the  Legislature  of 
Tennessee  presented  Jackson  as  a  candidate,  and  the  crit- 
icisms of  the  Adams  administration  revived  much  of  the 
political  asperities  and  resentments  of  the  violent  discussions 
between  the  old  Federalist  and  Republican  parties  in  the  days 
of  Jefferson  and  the  elder  Adams.  One  of  the  reasons 
strongly  urged  against  the  re-election  of  Adams  was  that  his 
administration  had  become  recklessly  extravagant,  as  the 
expenditures  of  the  Government  under  him  had  reached  the 
enormous  sum  of  nearly  $14,000,000  a  year. 

Adams  was  attacked  also  because  of  his  liberal  views  on 
the  questions  of  protection  and  public  improvements, 
although  Jackson  had  sustained  nearly  or  quite  the  same 
views  by  his  votes  in  Congress.  Adams  had  no  trained  polit- 
ical leaders ;  his  Cabinet  was  divided  even  on  the  question 
of  supporting  himself,  and  the  ideal  statesmanship  that 
Adams  worshipped  was  not  calculated  to  school  and  equip 
great  politicians.  Chiefly  through  the  efforts  of  Martin  Van 
Buren  the  supporters  of  Crawford  were  brought  into  the 
support  of  Jackson,  a  feat  that  was  probably  not  difficult 
from  the  fact  that  Clay,  the  Secretary  of  State  under  Adams, 
was  not  friendly  with  Crawford. 

The  Congressional  caucus  was  not  thought  of,  and  Adams 
became  a  candidate  to  succeed  himself  by  resolutions  of 
Legislatures  and  mass-meetings.  Calhoun,  who  was  the 
Yice-President  under  Adams,  was  accepted  by  the  friends 
of  Jackson  and  received  nearly  as  large  an  electoral  vote  as 
his  chief.  It  was  a  contest  between  the  dignified  statesman- 
ship of  that  day  and  the  Democratic  element  of  the  country. 
Adams  was  accepted  as  the  National  Republican  candidate 

49 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


and  Jackson  was  supported  under  the  flags  of  Republican 
Democracy,  and  in  some  sections  of  Democracy  alone.  It  was 
this  contest  and  the  success  of  Jackson  that  crystallized  the 
Republican  party  of  Jefferson  into  the  Democratic  party  that 
then  had  the  ablest  political  leaders  of  the  nation. 

The  friends  of  Adams  seem  to  have  been  confident  of  his 
re-election,  and  a  majority  of  the  States  chose  their 
electors  by  popular  vote.  It  was  a  battle  between  the 
Democratic  hero  of  New  Orleans,  the  friend  of  the  people, 
and  the  aristocratic  power  of  the  Republic.  With  Jack- 
son's great  prestige  and  Adams's  feebleness  in  resources  to 
support  himself  in  the  great  contest  before  the  people,  it  is 
not  surprising  that  Jackson  was  elected  by  a  very  large  pop- 
ular and  electoral  majority.  The  following  is  the  popular 
vote  where  a  direct  vote  was  had  in  the  several  States  be- 
tween Jackson  and  Adams : 


STATES. 

Andrew  Jackson, 
Democrat. 

John  Q.  Adams, 
National  Republican. 

Total  vote. 

Alabama 

17,138 
4,448 
4,349 
18,709 
6,763  " 
22,237 
39,084 
4,605 
13,927 
24,578 
6,019 
6,763 
8,232 
20,692 
21,950 
140,763 
37,857 
67,597 
101,652 
821 

1,938 
13,829 
4,769 

19,076 
18,277 
9,118 
18,709 
8,344 
39,289 
70,256 
8,702 
34,700 
50,337 
35,855 
8,344 
11,654 
44,768 
45,708 
276,176 
51,775 
130,993 
152,500 
3,575 

Connecticut 

Delaware 

Georgia 

1,581 
17,052 
31,172 
4,097 
20,773 
27,759 
29,836 
1,581 
3,422 
24,076 
23,758 
135,413 
13,918 
63,396 
50,848 
2,754 

Indiana 

Kentucky 

Louisiana. 

Maine 

Maryland  . 

Massachussetts  .... 

Missouri  

New  Hampshire  
New  Jersey 

New  York 

North  Carolina 

Ohio         

Pennsylvania  

Rhode  Island  

^niitli  Carolina* 

Tennessee 

44,090 
8,205 
26,752 

2,240 

24,784 
12,101 

46,330 
32,989 
38,853 

Vermont   

Virginia  

Total 

647,231 

509,097 

1,156,328 

*  The  electors  were  chosen  by  the  legislature. 

50 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


The  majority  for  Jackson  was  so  decisive  both  in  popular 
and  electoral  votes  that  the  verdict  was  accepted  by  the  coun- 
try, and  the  vote  was  counted  and  declared  by  Congress 
without  any  incident  worthy  of  note.  The  following  table 
presents  the  vote  in  detail  for  President  and  Vice-President 
in  the  Electoral  College: 


STATES. 

PRESIDENT. 

VICE-PRESIDENT. 

No.  entitled  to  vote. 

Andrew  Jackson, 
of  Tennessee. 

John  Q.  Adams, 
of  Massachusetts. 

John  C.  Calhoun, 
of  South  Carolina. 

Richard  Rush, 
of  Pennsylvania. 

William  Smith, 
of  South  Carolina. 

Alabama 

5 

9 
3 
5 
14 
5 
1 
5 

3 
3 

20 
15 

16 
28 

11 
11 

24 

8 
3 

8 
6 
15 

8 
.8 
16 

4 

7 

5 

2 
3 
5 
14 
5 
1 
5 

3 
3 

20 
15 
16 

28 

11 
11 

24 

8 
3 

8 
6 
15 

8 
8 
16 

4 

7 

7 

5 
8 
3 
9 
3 
5 
14 
5 
9 
11 
15 
3 
3 
8 
8 
36 
15 
16 
28 
4 
11 
11 
7 
24 

Connecticut          

Delaware 

Georgia  

Illinois  

Indiana 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine                           .     .    . 

Maryland         

Massachusetts 

Mississippi 

Missouri  

New  Hampshire         .  . 

New  Jersey 

New  York         .         .     . 

North  Carolina  

Ohio  

Pennsylvania 

Rhode  Island 

South  Carolina 

Tennessee 

Vermont    .    .         

Virginia  

Total     .  . 

178 

83 

171 

83 

7 

261 

The  campaign  of  1832  resulting  in  the  triumphant  re-elec- 

51 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

tion  of  Jackson  developed  a  more  confused  condition  of 
politics  in  the  nation  than  had  ever  been  presented.  The 
Federal  party  was  dead,  and  did  not  even  pretend  to  main- 
tain its  organization  in  any  of  the  States.  The  Republican 
party  was  divided  between  the  National  Republicans  and 
the  Democratic  Republicans,  who  followed  Jackson,  and 
finally  adopted  the  flag  of  Democracy.  Jackson's  first 
administration  had  been  anything  but  a  peaceful  one.  An 
open  quarrel  had  broken  out  between  Jackson  and  Vice-Pres- 
ident  Calhoun,  and  Jackson  was  not  only  a  good  hater,  but  a 
good  fighter.  He  was  largely  influenced  by  Van  Buren,  who 
was  his  Secretary  of  State,  and  who  was  one  of  the  most 
sagacious  political  managers  of  his  day.  He  aimed  to  suc- 
ceed Jackson  as  President  by  having  the  Jackson  administra- 
tion enlisted  in  his  favor,  and  his  first  step  toward  that  end 
was  to  overthrow  Calhoun,  and  Jackson  emphasized  his 
hostility  to  Calhoun  by  dictating  the  nomination  of  Van 
Buren  for  Vice-President. 

A  considerable  number  of  prominent  old  Republicans  who 
had  supported  Jackson  had  become  alienated  from  him  be- 
cause of  the  intensely  partisan  qualities  of  his  administration 
and  because  of  his  aggressive  interference  in  the  Cabinet 
scandal  resulting  from  Mrs.  Eaton's  social  ambition  as  the 
wife  of  a  Cabinet  minister.  Scandals  were  multiplied  in 
Washington  about  the  Jackson  Kitchen  Cabinet,  of  which 
Amos  Kendall  was  regarded  as  the  chief,  but  with  all  the  dis- 
turbance in  the  National  Capitol,  the  people  of  the  country 
were  sturdy  in  their  devotion  to  Jackson,  as  was  proved  by 
his  large  majority,  both  in  popular  and  electoral  votes,  over 
Clay,  who  was  confessedly  the  ablest  leader  of  the  opposi- 
tion. 

'his  contest  brings  us  to  the  introduction  of  the  National 
Convention.  The  first  political  national  convention  held  in 
this  country  was  called  to  meet  in  Philadelphia  in  Septem- 
ber, 1830,  by  a  number  of  prominent  anti-Masonic  leaders. 
The  anti-Mason  party  had  sprung  up  suddenly  and  attained 
great  power  in  the  North,  as  it  was  the  only  outlet  for  the 
old  Federalists,  most  of  whom  were  in  sympathy  with  the 
opposition  of  the  new  party  to  Masonic  and  all  other  secret 
societies. 

The  death  of  William  Morgan,  who,  it  was  claimed,  had 
been  murdered  by  the  Masons  for  revealing  the  secrets  of 
the  order,  was  most  dramatically  presented  in  the  political 

52 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

organs  of  the  day,  and  the  new  party  speedily  absorbed  most 
of  the  opposition  elements  to  the  Democracy  in  the  Northern 
States.  The  anti-Masonic  national  convention  that  met  in 
Philadelphia  in  1830  was  presided  over  by  Francis  Granger, 
of  Xew  York,  and  was  composed  of  96  delegates,  represent- 
ing New  York,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  Vermont,  Rhode 
Island,  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  Ohio,  Maryland,  and  the 
Territory  of  Michigan.  This  convention  was  held  more  than 
two  years  before  the  Presidential  election,  for  which  it  was 
expected  to  nominate  candidates  for  President,  but  instead 
of  making  nominations,  it  adjourned  to  meet  in  Baltimore  in 
September,  1831,  when  it  had  112  delegates,  with  Indiana 
and  Ohio  added  to  the  States  presented.  John  C.  Spencer 
was  its  president,  and  William  Wirt,  of  Maryland,  was 
nominated  for  President,  and  Amos  Ellmaker,  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, for  Vice-President.  Instead  of  passing  a  platform, 
as  is  now  common,  the  convention  issued  an  elaborate  ad- 
dress to  the  people  of  the  Union. 

This  action  of  the  anti-Masons  was  followed  by  the  Na- 
tional Republicans,  who  met  in  national  convention  at  Bal- 
timore, on  December  12,  1831,  with  17  States,  represented  by 
157  delegates.  Henry  Clay  was  nominated  for  President 
and  John  Sergeant,  of  Pennsylvania,  for  Vice-President.  No 
platform  was  adopted  by  this  convention,  but  it  followed  the 
anti-Masons  by  issuing  an  address  to  the  people  of  the  coun- 
try in  which  it  was  stated  that  "  the  political  history  of  the 
Union  for  the  last  three  years  exhibits  a  series  of  measures 
plainly  dictated  in  all  their  principal  features  by  blind  cupid- 
ity or  vindictive  party  spirit,  marked  throughout  by  a  dis- 
regard of  good  policy,  justice,  and  every  high  and  generous 
sentiment,  and  terminating  in  a  dissolution  of  the  Cabinet 
under  circumstances  more  discreditable  than  any  of  the  kind 
to  be  met  with  in  the  annals  of  the  civilized  world." 

The  Democrats  followed  the  anti-Masons  and  National 
Republicans  by  calling  a  National  Democratic  convention,  to 
meet  in  Baltimore  in  May,  1832,  to  nominate  a  candidate  for 
Vice-President.  Jackson  was  so  universally  accepted  as  the 
candidate  of  the  Democrats  for  re-election  that  the  conven- 
tion was  not  allowed  to  make  a  nomination  for  the  first  office, 
but  a  resolution  was  passed  declaring  that  the  convention 
"  cordially  concurred  in  the  repeated  nominations  that  Gen- 
eral Jackson  had  received  in  various  parts  of  the  country  for 
re-election  as  President."  The  convention  adopted  the  two- 

53 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

t 

thirds  rule  that  has  prevailed  in  every  Democratic  conven- 
tion from  that  day  until  the  present  time,  requiring  that 
"  two-thirds  of  the  whole  number  of  the  votes  in  the  conven- 
tion shall  be  necessary  to  constitute  a  choice." 

Van  Buren  was  nominated  for  Vice-President,  receiving 
208  votes  to  26  for  Richard  M.  Johnson  and  49  for  Philip  P. 
Barbour.  No  platform  of  principles  was  adopted,  nor  was 
an  address  issued  by  the  convention  to  the  people,  but  a  reso- 
lution was  passed  declaring  that  "  in  place  of  a  general  ad- 
dress from  this  body"  the  delegations  should  address  their 
respective  constituents  on  the  political  issues  of  the  day. 

Never  were  two  candidates  presented  for  the  first  office 
of  the  nation  who  so  widely  differed  in  their  chief  qualities. 
Jackson  was  a  clear-headed  man  of  rugged  intellect,  of  in- 
flexible purpose,  a  relentless  opponent  and  a  devoted  friend, 
while  Clay  was  the  most  magnetic  of  all  the  popular  leaders 
this  country  has  ever  produced.  No  one  before  or  since 
Clay's  time  has  approached  him  in  that  peculiar  quality  but 
James  G.  Blaine.  The  hero-worship  of  Jackson  was  earnest 
and  always  aggressive  when  summoned  to  battle,  but'  Clay 
was  beloved  and  idolized  beyond  that  accorded  to  any  leader 
of  any  party  in  the  history  of  the  Republic.  He  was  a  most 
brilliant  orator,  imposing  in  presence  and  gifted  in  every 
grace  that  attracted  the  multitude,  and  he  was  imperious  as 
Csesar  in  his  leadership.  His  friends  battled  for  him  with 
matchless  enthusiasm,  but  Jackson  was  so  strongly  en- 
trenched in  the  confidence  of  the  masses  that  he  won  an  easy 
victory  over  the  Sage  of  Ashland. 

The  contest  was  one  of  unusual  violence  and  defamation, 
and  it  was  doubtless  aggravated  by  the  personal  enmity  that 
existed  between  Jackson  and  Clay.  The  veto  of  the  bill  re- 
chartering  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  had  greatly  dis- 
turbed financial  circles,  and  it  was  believed  in  the  early  part 
of  the  struggle  that  the  financial  and  business  interests  of  the 
country  would  endanger  Jackson's  success,  but  the  popular 
prejudice  against  banks  in  that  day  was  so  great  that  Jack- 
son largely  profited  by  the  open  opposition  of  his  former  sup- 
porters who  were  interested  in  maintaining  a  national  finan- 
cial institution.  The  anti-Masonic  electoral  ticket  was 
adopted  by  the  National  Republicans  in  several  of  the  States, 
and  it  is  specially  shown  in  the  popular  vote  of  Vermont, 
where  Clay  appears  to  have  carried  the  State,  and  yet  the 
electoral  vote  was  given  to  William  Wirt,  the  anti-Masonic 

54 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


candidate.  Had  it  been  possible  for  the  electoral  vote  of  that 
State  to  elect  Clay  President,  it  would  have  been  cast  for 
him. 

The  number  of  electors  had  been  enlarged  by  the  new 
apportionment,  and  Delaware  had  provided  for  the  choice  of 
electors  by  a  popular  vote,  leaving  South  Carolina  as  the  only 
State  to  appoint  electors  by  the  Legislature.  That  State 
continued  the  system  of  the  legislative  choice  of  electors 
without  interruption  until  the  civil  war  of  1861.  Several  of 
the  States  also  abandoned  the  election  of  delegates  by  the 
district  system,  Maryland  alone  adhering  to  it.  In  Alabama 
there  was  no  electoral  ticket  opposed  to  Jackson,  and  the 
popular  vote  is  not  attainable.  Georgia  was  also  without  an 
anti-Jackson  electoral  ticket,  while  Missouri,  that  was 
friendly  to  Clay  in  1824,  seems  to  have  made  no  battle  for 
him  against  Jackson.  The  following  is  the  popular  vote,  as 
nearly  as  it  can  be  ascertained : 


STATES. 

Andrew  Jackson, 
Democrat. 

Henry  Clay, 
Nat'l  Republican. 

Total  vote. 

Ala.  bama  * 

11,269 
4,110 
20,750 
14,147 
31,552 
36,247 
4,049 
33,291 
19,156 
14.545 
5,919 
6,192 
25,486 
23,856 
168,497 
24,862 
81,246 
90,983 
2,126 

17,775 
4,276 

5,429 
15,472 
43,396 
2,528 
27,204 
19,160 
33,003 

29,044 
8,386 
20,750 
19,576 
47,024 
79,643 
6,577 
60,495 
38,316 
47,548 
5,919 
5,192 
44,496 
47,249 
323,393 
29,425 
157,785 
147,699 
4,936 

Delaware  

Georgia 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Kentucky     .... 

Louisiana  ....         .... 

Maine 

Maryland  

Massachusetts    .  . 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

New  Hampshire 

19,010 
23,393 
154,896 
4,563 
76,539 
56,716 
2,810 

New  Jersey.  . 

New  York 

North  Carolina 

Ohio 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode  Island 

South  Carolina  "f 

Tennessee       

28,740 
7,870 
33,609 

1,436 
11,152 
11,451 

30,176 
19,022 
45,060 

Vermont  

Virginia  

Total  

687,502 

530,209 

^1,217,711 

*  Vote  not  recorded.  tThe  electors  were  chosen  by  the  legislature. 

JThis  total  does  not  include  33,108  votes  cast  for  John  Floyd  and  Wm.  Wirt 


55 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 


There  was  some  ragged  voting  for  President  and  much 
more  for  Vice-President.  Jackson  received  219  votes  in 
the  Electoral  College  to  49  for  Clay,  1 1  for  Floyd,  and  7  for 
Wirt,  given  by  Vermont,  and  which  would  have  gone  to 
Clay  had  they  been  needed.  South  Carolina,  under  the 
influence  of  Calhoun,  refused  to  vote  for  either  Jackson  or 
Van  Buren,  but  cast  the  electoral  vote  for  John  Floyd,  of 
Virginia,  for  President,  and  for  Henry  Lee,  of  Massachu- 
setts, for  Vice-President.  Van  Buren  was  not  acceptable 
to  all  the  friends  of  Jackson,  as  the  Pennsylvania  Democratic 
Convention  positively  instructed  the  electors  to  vote  for 
William  Wilkins  for  Vice-President,  which  instructions 
were  obeyed  in  the  Electoral  College,  and  a  convention  of 
Jackson  men  had  been  held  in  June,  in  Charlotteville,  Va., 
and  nominated  P.  P.  Barbour,  of  that  State,  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency,  with  Jackson  for  President.  A  like  convention 
was  held,  composed  of  delegates  from  a  number  of  counties 
in  North  Carolina,  in  which  Jackson  and  Barbour  were 
nominated,  but  Barbour  did  not  reach  the  dignity  of  support 
in  the  Electoral  College. 

There  were  no  disputes  as  to  the  return  of  the  electoral 
colleges,  and  the  vote  was  declared  by  Congress  as  follows : 


STATES. 

PRESIDENT. 

VICE-PRESIDENT. 

No.  entitled  to  vote. 

Andrew  Jackson, 
of  Tennessee. 

>, 

£g 

,52 
6  c 

& 

u"o 
M 

John  Floyd, 
of  Virginia. 

William  Wirt, 
of  Maryland. 

Vacancies. 

Martin  Van  Buren, 
of  New  York. 

John  Sergeant, 
of  Pennsylvania. 

William  Wilkins, 
of  Pennsylvania. 

Henry  Lee, 
of  Massachusetts, 

Amos  Ellmaker, 
of  Pennsylvania. 

Vacancies. 

Alabama 

7 

11 
5 
9 

5 

10 
3 

~8 
3 

15 
5 

— 

— 

2 

7 

11 
5 
9 

5 
10 
3 

8 

3 

15 
5 

— 

— 

— 

2 

7 
8 
3 
11 
5 
9 
15 
5 
10 
10 

Connecticut 

Delaware  

Georgia  

Illinois  

Indiana  

Kentucky  

Louisiana  . 

Maine 

Maryland  

56 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


STATES. 

PRESIDENT. 

VICE-PRESIDENT. 

No.  entitled  to  vote. 

Andrew  Jackson, 
of  Tennessee. 

>, 

*g 

a  3 

Oc 
t& 

J* 

fl 

*E 
£° 

William  Wirt. 
of  Maryland. 

Vacancies. 

I  . 

3# 
«S 

§x 
>* 

*8 
r 

John  Sergeant, 
of  Pennsylvania. 

William  Wilkins, 
of  Pennsylvania, 

Henry  Lee, 
of  Massachusetts. 

Amos  Ellmaker, 
of  Pennsylvania. 

Vacancies. 

Massachusetts 

4 
4 
7 
8 
42 
15 
21 
30 

15 

23 

13 

4 

11 

7 

~y 

^_ 

4 
4 
7 
8 
42 
15 
21 

15 
23 

189 

14 
4 

30 

11 

7 

— 

14 
4 
4 
7 
8 
42 
15 
21 
30 
4 
11 
15 
7 
23 

Mississippi 

Missouri                   

New  Hampshire  

New  Jersey  

New  York 

North  Carolina 

Ohio 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode  Island 

South  Carolina         .   .  . 

Tennessee 

Vermont     .    .       

Virginia  

Total           

219 

49 

11 

2 

49 

30 

11 

7 

2 

288 

Jackson's  second  administration  was  even  more  tempestu- 
ous than  the  first.  His  nullification  proclamation  that 
convulsed  the  country  from  centre  to  circumference,  and 
the  first  "  pocket  veto  "  in  the  history  of  the  country  by 
which  he  had  killed  the  Land  bill,  were  among  the  later  acts 
of  his  first  administration,  and  entered  very  largely  into  the 
bitterness  of  political  dispute  that  continued  during  his 
second  term.  Both  were  denounced  as  violent  usurpations, 
and  it  is  doubtful  whether  any  but  Andrew  Jackson  could 
have  made  the  record  he  left  on  both  of  those  vital  issues. 

He  had  vetoed  the  recharter  of  the  United  States  Bank 
during  his  first  term,  and  supplemented  that  hostility  to  the 
institution  early  in  his  second  term  by  the  removal  of  the 
Government  deposits  from  the  bank.  His  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  Mr.  Duane,  resolutely  opposed  the  removal  of 
the  deposits,  but  Jackson  would  not  brook  opposition,  and 
in  order  to  carry  out  his  new  financial  policy,  he  accepted 

57 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Duane's  resignation  and  appointed  Roger  B.  Taney,  who 
was  in  accord  with  the  President,  and  who  was  finally 
rewarded  by  his  promotion  to  the  Chief  Justiceship  of  the 
United  States. 

He  had  devoted  followers  in  Congress;  he  was  absolute 
master  of  Congressional  action  during  his  second  term,  and 
he  was  heartily  supported  by  the  great  mass  of  the  people, 
a  very  large  portion  of  whom  regarded  him  as  the  model 
patriot  and  the  infallible  political  oracle  of  the  nation.  They 
loved  his  courage  and  his  pugnacity,  and  as  he  always  was 
the  winner,  they  had  every  inspiration  to  rejoice  over  the 
triumphs  of  their  devotedly  worshipped  leader. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  first  evidence  of  the  weakness 
of  Jackson's  popular  strength  was  exhibited  in  his  own 
State  of  Tennessee,  where  Hugh  L.  White,  a  Senator  from 
that  State,  was  nominated  to  succeed  Jackson  as  President 
by  the  Tennessee  Legislature.  Jackson  was  much  disturbed 
by  it.  When  the  question  was  before  the  Legislatures  of 
Alabama  and  Tennessee,  copies  of  the  Washington  Globe, 
the  organ  of  the  administration,  containing  severe  assaults 
upon  Senator  White,  were  franked  to  the  members  of  those 
Legislatures  by  the  President  himself;  but  notwithstanding 
all  Jackson's  efforts  to  make  Van  Buren  his  successor, 
Tennessee  voted  for  Judge  White  by  10,000  majority. 

Upon  his  retirement  from  the  Presidency  in  1837,  he 
imitated  Washington  by  a  farewell  address  to  the  American 
people,  that  was  received  by  a  large  majority  as  second  in 
reverence  only  to  the  farewell  address  of  Washington.  His 
health  was  feeble  when  his  stormy  eight  years  of  Presiden- 
tial rule  were  ended,  and  after  the  inauguration  of  Van 
Buren  he  retired  to  "  The  Hermitage,"  his  home,  near 
Nashville,  in  Tennessee,  where  he  died  on  the  8th  of  June, 
1845. 


MARTIN    VAN    BUliKN 


THE  VAN  BUREN-HARRISON 
CONTEST 

1836 

THE  national  contest  of  1836  that  made  Martin  Van  Buren 
President  gave  birth  to  a  new  political  organization  known 
as  the  Whig  party.  The  opposition  to  Jackson  agreed  only 
in  opposing  Jackson,  but  it  was  not  possible  to  unite  on  any 
national  policy.  The  strongest  organized  element  of  the 
opposition  was  the  anti-Masonic  party,  that  was  very 
powerful  in  the  North,  but  among  the  opponents  of  Jackson 
were  many  who,  like  Mr.  Clay,  were  Masons  of  high  degree, 
and  they  could  not  act  with  a  political  party  that  made 
anti-Masonry  one  of  the  cardinal  principles  of  its  faith. 

The  National  Republican  party  practically  perished  with 
the  defeat  of  Clay  in  1832,  and  a  very  large  majority  of  its 
members  were  not  in  sympathy  with  the  anti-Masons. 
These  conditions  led  to  the  organization  of  the  Whig  party 
in  1834,  and  it  gradually  absorbed  all  the  old  National 
Republicans,  Federalists,  anti-Masons,  and  all  the  other 
varied  forms  of  opposition  to  Jackson.  Its  name  and  its 
declaration  of  principles  were  declared  by  a  number  of  lead- 
ing men  in  1834,  and  it  gradually  developed  in  strength 
until  it  was  the  leading  factor  in  the  support  of  Harrison 
in  1836,  and  won  the  election  of  Harrison  by  an  over- 
whelming majority  of  both  the  popular  and  electoral  votes 
in  1840.  The  \Vhig  party  maintained  itself  as  one  of  the 
ablest  political  organizations  the  country  has  ever  had,  but 
it  was  much  more  noted  for  its  conservative  restraints  upon 
the  Democrats  than  for  the  successful  establishment  of  its 
policy  in  the  administration  of  the  Government.  It  elected 
two  Presidents,  Harrison  and  Taylor,  but  neither  seriously 
impressed  the  policy  of  the  Whig  party  upon  the  nation.  It 
practically  perished  in  1852,  when  it  made  its  last  great 

59 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

battle  for  General  Scott  for  President,  and  carried  but  four 
States. 

As  the  contest  of  1836  was  approached  the  various  ele- 
ments of  opposition  to  Jackson  felt  confident  that  they 
could  poll  a  majority  of  the  popular  vote,  but  there  was  no 
possibility  of  their  uniting  upon  any  one  candidate  without 
suffering  great  loss  in  their  popular  following.  It  was 
decided,  therefore,  that  instead  of  attempting  to  unite  the 
opposition  to  Jackson  on  one  candidate,  they  would  support 
several  candidates  who  were  particularly  strong  in  their 
respective  localities,  with  the  hope  that  a  majority  of  the 
electors  might  thus  be  chosen  who  would  unite  in  the  elec- 
tion of  the  strongest  of  the  opposition  candidates. 

The  Democrats  were  very  much  disturbed,  as  signs  of 
disintegration  were  visible  to  all.  Jackson  was  the  most 
potent  of  any  of  our  retiring  Presidents,  with  the  exception 
of  Washington,  and  he  dictated  Van  Buren  for  the  succes- 
sion. Without  the  omnipotent  power  of  Jackson,  Van 
Buren  could  not  have  been  nominated  or  elected.  Jackson 
had  the  Democracy  thoroughly  organized,  and  he  wielded 
all  the  official  power  of  his  administration  relentlessly  to 
carry  out  his  political  aims.  There  was  much  hesitation 
about  the  Democrats  accepting  a  national  convention,  be- 
cause of  the  opposition  to  Van  Buren,  but  Jackson  per- 
sonally importuned  the  leading  Democrats  to  summon  a 
convention  at  an  early  period,  and  a  convention  was  finally 
called,  to  be  held  in  Baltimore  on  the  2Oth  of  May,  1835, 
nearly  a  year  and  a  half  before  the  Presidential  election. 

It  was  not  a  representative  convention,  as  although  over 
six  hundred  delegates  attended,  a  majority  of  them  were 
from  Maryland  alone,  but  each  State  was  allowed  to  cast 
the  vote  corresponding  with  its  representation  in  Congress. 
Van  Buren  was  nominated  unanimously  on  the  1st  ballot, 
and  Richard  M.  Johnson,  of  Kentucky,  was  made  the 
candidate  for  Vice-President,  receiving  178  votes,  with  87 
cast  for  William  C.  Rives,  of  Virginia.  The  two-thirds 
rule  was  reaffirmed  in  the  convention,  and  even  after  John- 
son had  been  nominated  under  the  rule  Virginia  refused 
to  approve  the  action  of  the  convention  presenting  him  as 
the  candidate  for  Vice-President.  No  platform  was  adopted 
and  no  address  was  issued  by  the  body  to  the  people  of  the 
country. 

The    prominent    candidates    presented    in    opposition    to 

6q 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

Van  Buren  were  General  William  H.  Harrison  and  Judge 
John  McLean,  of  Ohio;  Daniel  Webster,  of  Massachusetts, 
and  Judge  Hugh  L.  White,  of  Tennessee.  Willie  P. 
Mangum,  who  received  the  electoral  vote  of  South  Carolina 
chosen  by  the  Legislature,  was  not  a  candidate  before  the 
people,  and  it  is  remarkable  that  South  Carolina,  at  war 
with  Jackson  on  the  right  of  nullification,  cast  her  electoral 
vote  for  Mangum,  who  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Whig 
party  and  afterward  distinguished  as  a  Whig  United  States 
Senator. 

No  attempt  was  made  to  bring  these  opposing  opposition 
elements  together.  Harrison  was  first  nominated  at  Harris- 
burg,  Penn.,  by  two  State  conventions,  both  meeting  osten- 
sibly as  anti-Masons,  the  one  being  Democratic  and  the  other 
inclining  to  the  new  Whig  organization,  and  he  was  also 
presented  by  Legislatures  and  mass-meetings  in  other 
States.  Webster  was  nominated  by  the  Whig  Legislature 
of  Massachusetts,  and  Judge  White  \vas  nominated  by  the 
Legislatures  of  Tennessee  and  Alabama,  and  by  mass- 
meetings  in  different  sections  of  the  South.  He  was  then 
a  United  States  Senator  from  Tennessee,  but  at  war  with 
Jackson,  and  he  was  confessedly  the  strongest  opponent  of 
Jackson  in  the  entire  South.  The  fact  that  he  could  com- 
mand a  nomination  from  the  Democratic  Legislature  of 
Tennessee  while  Jackson  was  President  is  the  best  evidence 
of  his  exceptional  popularity  with  the  people,  and  it  was 
proved  also  by  him  carrying  the  electoral  vote  of  the  State 
over  Van  Buren  by  a  decided  majority.  Judge  McLean 
gradually  dropped  out  of  the  fight,  as  he  was  from  Harrison's 
State,  and  Harrison  soon  developed  as  much  the  strongest 
candidate  of  the  entire  opposition  competitors. 

The  contest  was  one  of  intense  bitterness.  There  were 
no  conflicting  opposition  tickets  run  against  Van  Buren. 
In  States  where  White  was  strongest  the  opposition  united 
on  White  electoral  tickets,  where  Harrison  was  strongest 
they  united  on  Harrison  electoral  tickets,  and  where 
Webster  was  strongest  they  united  on  Webster  electoral 
tickets.  The  campaign  was  thus  shrewdly  managed  by  the 
opposition,  and  it  gave  some  promise  of  success,  as  if  a 
majority  of  the  electoral  votes  had  been  chosen  against 
Van  Buren,  they  would  doubtless  have  been  united  upon 
one  candidate  before  the  time  for  meeting  of  the  electoral 
colleges.  In  Clay's  State  the  battle  was  made  for  Harrison 

6l 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 


with  him  in  the  forefront  of  the  fight,  and  Harrison  carried 
the  State  by  a  safe  majority. 

The  defamation  of  the  contest  of  1836  was  equal  to  any 
of  the  malignant  contests  of  the  early  days  of  the  Republic. 
Van  Buren,  Harrison,  White,  and  Webster  were  most 
vindictively  assailed,  and  their  public  and  private  lives 
criticised  far  beyond  the  lines  of  decent  disputation.  Van 
Buren  was  proclaimed  the  mere  puppet  of  Jackson;  Harri- 
son was  denounced  as  a  failure  in  field  and  forum,  where 
he  had  been  General,  Governor,  and  Senator ;  Webster  was 
defamed  as  an  old  blue-light  Federalist,  and  White  was 
assailed  in  the  South  as  an  ingrate  who  had  sacrificed  his 
self-respect  to  ambition. 

There  were  twenty-six  States  to  participate  in  the  election 
of  1836.  Arkansas  had  come  into  the  Union  on  the  I5th 
of  June,  and  Michigan,  where  electors  were  chosen  before 
the  admission  of  the  State,  was  formally  admitted  into  the 
Union  on  the  26th  of  January,  1837,  before  the  electoral 
count  took  place  in  Congress,  and  the  precedent  in  the 
Missouri  case  in  1821  settled  the  right  of  Michigan  to 
participate  in  the  election.  In  all  of  the  States,  with  the 
single  exception  of  South  Carolina,  the  electors  were  chosen 
by  popular  vote  and  by  general  ticket.  The  following  was 
the  popular  vote  as  returned  for  the  several  candidates, 
taking  the  vote  of  the  opposition  electors  chosen  as  an 
indication  of  the  choice  of  their  respective  States : 


STATES. 

Van  Buren. 

Harrison. 

White. 

Webster. 

Maine 

22  990 

15  °39 

New  Hampshire 

18'  122 

6  2°8 

"Vermont 

14*039 

20  996 

34  474 

40  047 

Rhode  Island 

2  964 

2  710 

Connecticut 

19  991 

18  749 

New  York 

166  815 

138  543 

New  Jersey 

25  592 

26  137 

Pennsylvania. 

91  475 

87  111 

Delaware 

4  153 

4  733 

Maryland 

22  168 

25  852 

Virginia 

30  961 

23  468 

North  Carolina 

26  91  0 

23  6°6 

Georgia 

22  104 

24  876 

*  Chosen  by  the  Legislature. 
62 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


STATES. 

Van  Buren. 

Harrison. 

White. 

Webster. 

20,506 
9,979 
3,653 
2,400 
33,025 
26,129 
10,995 
96,948 
32,478 
17,275 
7,332 

15,612 
9,688 
3,383 
1,238 

Louisiana 

Arkansas 

36,687 

36,168 
7,337 

Missouri 

105,404 
41,281 
14,292 
4,045 

Ohio 

Indiana 



Illinois 

Michigan 

Totals  

762,678 

548,007 

145,396 

42,247 

As  Van  Buren  was  successful,  not  only  by  a  small  popular 
majority,  but  by  a  clear  majority  of  the  electoral  vote,  no 
effort  was  necessary  to  unite  the  opposition  electoral  col- 
leges, and  they  divided  their  votes  between  Harrison, 
White,  and  Webster,  according  to  the  preferences  of  the 
respective  States.  Virginia  refused  to  give  her  electoral 
vote  to  Johnson  for  Vice-President,  and  that  left  him 
without  an  election,  as  he  had  not  a  majority  of  the  whole 
Electoral  College.  He  was,  however,  promptly  elected  by 
the  Senate,  receiving  33  votes  to  16  for  Francis  Granger. 
He  was  the  only  Vice-President  in  the  history  of  the 
Republic  who  was  not  elected  by  the  Electoral  College. 
When  Adams,  Jackson,  Crawford,  and  Clay  ran  in  1824, 
and  there  was  no  choice  for  President  in  the  Electoral 
College,  John  C.  Calhoun  received  a  decided  majority  in  the 
college  and  was  elected  without  an  appeal  to  the  Senate. 
The  following  is  the  vote  as  cast  for  President  and  Vice- 
President  in  the  electoral  colleges : 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


STATES. 

PRESIDENT. 

VICE- 
PRESIDENT. 

No.  entitled  to  vote. 

Martin  Van  Buren, 
of  New  York. 

I 

n 

E 

c8 

a 

*c 

Is 

P 

1  Hugh  L.  White, 
of  Tennessee. 

Daniel  Webster, 
of  Massachusetts. 

|  William  P.  Mangum, 
of  North  Carolina. 

1  Richard  M.  Johnson, 
of  Kentucky. 

Francis  Granger, 
of  New  York. 

1 

William  Smith, 
of  Alabama. 

Alabama 

7 
3 
8 

5 

5 

10 

3 

4 
4 

7 

42 
15 

80 

4 

7 
3 
8 
3 
11 
5 
9 
15 
5 
10 
10 
14 
3 
4 
4 
7 
8 
42 
15 
21 
30 
4 
11 
15 
7 
23 

294 

Arkansas 

3 

9 
15 

11 

^~ 



3 

8 

5 

3 

9 

15 

11 

\ 

Connecticut 

Delaware  

Georgia  

Illinois 

Indiana 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

10 

Maryland  

10 

— 

14 

— 

3 
4 

A 

14 

10 

— 

Massachusetts.  .  . 

Michigan 

Mississippi  

Missouri 

New  Hampshire 

7 

New  Jersey. 

8 

— 

— 

— 

42 

8 

— 

— 

New  York 

North  Carolina 

15 

Ohio  

21 

— 

— 

— 

Of) 

21 

— 

— 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode  Island 

South  Carolina 

11 
15 

23 

Tennessee 

15 

Vermont 

23 

7 

— 

— 

— 

7 

Virginia 

Total 

170 

73 

26 

14 

11 

147 

77 

47 

23 

WILLIAM   HENRY   HARRISON 


THE  HARRISON-VAN  BUREN  CONTEST 

1840 

MEMORABLE  as  was  the  campaign  of  1840  that  called  Gen- 
eral Harrison  to  the  Presidency  by  a  popular  whirlwind,  the 
thoughtful  student  of  American  politics  will  regard  that 
campaign  as  even  more  memorable  because  it  gave  birth  to  a 
party,  of  the  humblest  pretensions  at  the  start  as  a  political 
power,  that  twenty  years  later  saw  its  principles  triumph  in 
the  election  of  Lincoln,  and  the  mastery  of  the  party  that 
has  controlled  the  policy  of  the  Government  for  forty  years. 
The  Abolition  party,  that  was  the  corner-stone  upon  which 
the  modern  Republican  party  is  reared,  was  organized  in 
December,  1839,  at  Warsaw,  Genesee  County,  N.  Y.,  when, 
at  a  mass  convention,  with  but  few  States  represented,  it 
nominated  James  G.  Birney,  of  New  York,  for  President, 
and  Thomas  Earle,  of  Pennsylvania,  for  Vice-President. 

This  party  had  but  one  vital  principle  that  made  up  its 
political  faith,  and  that  was  the  abolition  of  slavery.  It  was 
looked  upon  as  a  movement  of  a  few  political  cranks,  and 
was  not  regarded  as  a  possible  factor  in  that  or  any  future 
political  contest.  It  cast  a  few  votes  in  1840,  but  in  1844  it 
diverted  enough  votes  from  Henry  Clay  in  New  York  State 
to  defeat  him  for  the  Presidency.  Its  total  vote  in  1840 
aggregated  only  7069,  one-third  of  which  was  cast  in  New 
York  and  one-fourth  in  Massachusetts ;  but  it  was  the  party 
of  destiny,  and  its  origin  can  be  studied  with  profit.  Its  few 
supporters  of  that  day  who  braved  the  prejudices  of  all 
parties  were  actuated  by  a  sincere  conviction,  and  that  con- 
viction was  made  more  and  more  acceptable  from  year  to 
year  as  the  aggressions  of  slavery  multiplied,  until  it  finally 
died  a  colossal  suicide. 

The  divided  opposition  elements  which  had  polled  within 
30,000  of  the  vote  received  by  Van  Buren  in  1836  were 

65 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

coerced  by  supreme  necessities  to  united  action  for  the  cam- 
paign of  1840.  But  three  candidates  were  prominently  dis- 
cussed. They  were  General  William  H.  Harrison  of  Ohio, 
Henry  Clay  of  Kentucky,  and  Winfield  Scott  of  Virginia. 
Clay  was  much  the  ablest  of  them,  and  had  the  most  enthusi- 
astic and  earnest  friends,  but  the  old  anti-Masonic  element 
crucified  Clay  in  the  Whig  convention  of  1839,  just  as 
Seward  was  crucified  in  the  convention  of  1860  by  the 
American  sentiment  that  was  an  indispensable  factor  to 
enable  the  Republicans  to  win.  Clay  was  a  Royal  Arch 
Mason,  and  he  would  doubtless  have  lost  largely  in  the  rank 
and  file  of  the  anti-Masons,  who  had  been  educated  in  the 
fiercest  strife  of  political  contests  to  believe  that  Masonry 
was  incompatible  with  patriotism. 

Harrison  had  been  Governor  of  the  Indiana  Territory, 
Senator  in  Congress  and  a  successful  general,  having  won 
a  decisive  victory  over  the  English  and  the  Indians  at  Tippe- 
canoe.  Scott  was  green  with  the  laurels  of  Chippewa  and 
Lundy's  Lane,  and  was  regarded  as  the  first  soldier  of  the 
Republic.  One  thing  strongly  in  Harrison's  favor  was  the 
fact  that  in  the  free-for-all  race  of  1836  he  had  largely  out- 
stripped his  anti-Jackson  associate  candidates  for  President. 

The  Whig  National  Convention  was  called  to  meet  at 
Harrisburg  on  the  4th  of  December,  1839,  just  one  year  be- 
fore the  Presidential  election,  and  no  national  convention  in 
the  history  of  our  politics  ever  moved  with  such  extreme 
caution.  It  was  three  days  after  the  convention  was  organ- 
ized before  a  ballot  was  reached  for  President,  the  whole 
time  having  been  occupied  in  formal  conferences  of  com- 
mittees appointed  by  each  delegation  to  confer  in  the  frank- 
est way  as  to  the  best  picket  to  unite  the  incongruous  opposi- 
tion elements.  Clay  Had  made  exhaustive  effort  to  unite  the 
opposition,  even  if  necessary  to  sacrifice  himself.  On  re- 
peated occasions  he  publicly  declared  that  his  name  should 
not  be  entertained  if  it  was  in  any  degree  an  obstacle  to  suc- 
cess, and  in  a  Buffalo  address  delivered  some  time  before  the 
convention  met,  he  said :  "  If  my  name  creates  any  obstacle 
to  union  and  harmony,  away  with  it,  and  concentrate  upon 
some  individual  more  acceptable  to  all  branches  of  the 
office/' 

A  Union  Pennsylvania  convention  had  been  held  in  Har- 
risburg in  September,  embracing  representatives  of  the  old 
National  Republicans,  anti-Masons,  and  Whigs.  It  was 

66 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

largely  planned  and  carried  out  by  Thaddeus  Stevens,  whose 
violent  anti-Masonic  convictions  made  him  the  opponent  of 
Clay,  and  that  convention,  while  highly  complimenting  Clay, 
declared  that  General  Harrison  was  the  most  available  of  all 
the  candidates  named  for  President.  ^Governor  Barbour,  of 
Virginia,  presided  over  the  national  convention,  and  instead 
of  proceeding  to  ballot  for  candidates,  the  convention,  after 
careful  consideration,  decided  that  the  delegations  from  the 
different  States  should  confer  with  each  other,  through  sub- 
committees, and  if  possible  reach  a  conclusion  as  to  the  best 
nomination  and  report  to  the  convention. 

While  there  is  no  official  record  of  the  action  of  these 
committees,  it  is  known  that  at  the  start  more  favored  Clay 
than  any  of  the  two  other  candidates,  as  one  of  the  known 
facts  relating  to  their  action  gave  Clay  103  votes  to  94  for 
Harrison  and  57  for  Scott.  This  vote  is  based  on  the 
assumption  that  the  entire  delegation  of  each  State  would 
vote  in  harmony  with  its  committee,  as  the  resolution  under 
which  the  committees  were  appointed  provided  that  "  each 
State  represented  shall  vote  its  full  electoral  vote  by  such 
delegation  in  the  committee."  After  three  days  of  confer- 
ence, the  joint  committees  reported  to  the  convention  that 
they  had  decided  in  favor  of  Harrison  by  a  vote  of  148  to  90 
for  Clay  and  16  for  Scott. 

On  the  following  day  the  convention  accepted  the  report 
of  the  committees  by  adopting  a  resolution  declaring  General 
Harrison  the  candidate  of  the  convention,  and  it  was  unan- 
imously approved  amidst  great  enthusiasm.  The  friends  of 
Clay  gave  very  prompt  and  cordial  support  to  the  action 
of  the  convention,  and  the  friends  of  Harrison  proved  their 
appreciation  of  the  magnanimity  of  Clay's  friends  by  unani- 
mously nominating  John  Tyler,  of  Virginia,  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent, who  was  the  leader  of  the  Clay  forces  in  the  convention. 
No  platform  or  expression  of  principles  was  given  in  any 
manner.  Indeed,  none  of  the  political  questions  of  the  day 
diverted  the  convention  at  any  time  from  the  supreme  pur- 
pose of  uniting  the  opposition  to  Van  Buren  on  a  single 
ticket. 

It  was  the  vote  of  Virginia  that  finally  decided  the  question 
of  making  Harrison  the  candidate  of  the  convention.  The 
three  prominent  candidates  were  all  sons  of  Virginia,  and 
had  Clay  been  available  he  would  doubtless  have  been  pre- 
ferred. A  very  earnest  effort  was  made  to  force  the  nomina- 

67 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

tion  of  General  Scott  when  Clay  was  conceded  to  be  unavail- 
able, and  the  Virginia  delegates  long  hesitated  in  making  a 
choice  between  Harrison  and  Scott.  Both  were  of  Old  Do- 
minion birth,  and  the  pride  of  the  Mother  of  Presidents 
would  have  been  gratified  with  the  nomination  of  either. 

It  was  at  this  stage  of  the  contest  that  Thaddeus  Stevens, 
who  was  the  leading  delegate  from  Pennsylvania,  con- 
trolled the  Virginia  delegation  by  a  scheme  that  was  more 
effective  than  creditable.  Scott,  who  was  quite  too  fond  of 
writing  letters,  had  written  a  letter  to  Francis  Granger,  of 
New  York,  in  which  he  evidently  sought  to  conciliate  the 
antislavery  sentiment  of  that  State.  It  was  a  private  letter, 
but  Granger  exhibited  it  to  Stevens  and  permitted  Stevens 
to  use  it  in  his  own  way.  As  the  headquarters  of  the  Vir- 
ginia delegation  were  the  centre  of  attraction,  they  were 
always  crowded,  and  Stevens  called  there  along  with  many 
others.  Before  leaving  he  dropped  the  Scott  letter  on  the 
floor,  and  it  was  soon  discovered  and  its  contents  made 
known  to  the  Virginians.  That  letter  decided  the  Virginians 
to  support  Harrison  and  to  reject  Scott.  Either  could  have 
been  elected  if  nominated,  as  the  Van  Buren  defeat  of  1840 
was  one  of  the  most  sweeping  political  hurricanes  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  country. 

My  authority  for  this  is  Mr.  Stevens  himself.  He  disliked 
Scott  on  general  principles  through  his  great  aversion  to  all 
men  whose  vanity  was  conspicuous,  but  he  had  a  much 
stronger  reason  for  nominating  Harrison  in  his  possession 
of  an  autograph  letter  from  General  Harrison,  assuring 
Stevens  that  if  he,  Harrison,  was  elected  President,  Stevens 
would  be  a  member  of  his  Cabinet.  After  the  election  Ste- 
vens said  nothing  and  made  no  movement  to  make  himself 
prominent  as  a  candidate  for  the  Cabinet,  as  he  felt  entirely 
secure,  while  Josiah  Randall,  father  of  the  late  Samuel  J. 
Randall,  and  then  a  prominent  Whig,  and  Charles  B.  Pen- 
rose,  grandfather  of  the  present  United  States  Senator  Pen- 
rose,  entered  the  field  aggressively  as  candidates  for  a  Cab- 
inet portfolio.  When  the  Cabinet  was  announced,  Stevens 
was  dumbfounded  to  find  his  name  omitted.  He  never  for- 
gave Webster,  who  was  made  the  head  of  the  Cabinet,  for  the 
failure,  and  he  believed  until  the  day  of  his  death  that  Web- 
ster had  prevented  his  appointment. 

There  was  much  dissatisfaction  with  the  Van  Buren  ad- 
ministration. The  severe  business  and  industrial  depression 

68 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

which  came  upon  the  country  about  the  middle  of  Van 
Buren's  term  was  very  disastrous,  and  the  financial  troubles 
were  largely  charged  to  the  arbitrary  financial  system  intro- 
duced by  Jackson  and  maintained  by  Van  Buren.  Labor  was 
largely  unemployed  and  business  was  paralyzed.  So  grave 
were  the  financial  disturbances  that  several  of  the  States 
were  swept  from  their  honest  moorings  by  the  cheap  money 
craze,  and  irresponsible  banks  were  created  almost  without 
limit  or  restraint,  all  of  which  brought  speedy  and  fearful 
disaster  to  the  people. 

A  large  portion  of  the  Democratic  party  had  not  at  any 
time  heartily  favored  Van  Buren,  and  only  their  devotion  to 
Jackson  made  them  accept  Van  Buren  as  their  candidate. 
The  Democratic  leaders  of  a  number  of  the  States  openly 
declared  that  they  would  not  participate  in  the  national  con- 
vention. A  convention  was  finally  called,  and  met  in  Balti- 
more on  the  5th  of  May,  1840,  with  Connecticut,  Delaware, 
Virginia,  South  Carolina,  and  Illinois  not  represented,  while 
some  of  the  other  States  had  but  one  or  two  delegates.  Gov- 
ernor William  Carroll,  of  Tennessee,  presided  over  the  con- 
vention, and  Van  Buren  was  renominated  by  the  adoption  of 
a  resolution  declaring  that  as  he  was  the  unanimous  choice 
of  the  party  and  the  convention,  "  he  should  be  presented  as 
the  Democratic  candidate  for  the  office  of  President."  An- 
other resolution,  offered  at  the  same  time  and  by  the  same 
man,  Mr.  Clay,  of  Alabama,  was  as  follows :  "  That  the  con- 
vention deem  it  expedient  at  the  present  time  not  to  choose 
between  the  individuals  in  nomination,  but  to  leave  the  de- 
cision to  their  Republican  Democratic  fellow-citizens  in  the 
several  States,  trusting  that  before  the  election  shall  take 
place  their  opinions  shall  become  so  concentrated  as  to  secure 
the  choice  of  a  Vice- President  by  tjie  electoral  colleges." 

There  was  positive  opposition  to  the  election  of  Vice- 
President  Johnson  in  1836,  as  was  shown  by  his  failure  to 
command  a  majority  of  the  electoral  votes,  while  Van  Buren 
was  elected  President,  and  that  opposition  seems  to  have 
increased  rather  than  diminished.  There  was  much  discus- 
sion in  the  convention  after  it  had  unanimously  adopted  the 
first  resolution  declaring  Van  Buren  the  candidate  for  Presi- 
dent as  to  what  action  the  convention  should  take  on  the 
Vice-Presidency,  and  finally  the  resolution  before  quoted  was 
unanimously  adopted,  leaving  the  party  without  a  formally 
nominated  candidate  for  the  second  place  on  the  ticket. 

69 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

This  convention  for  the  first  time  presented  a  national 
party  platform  as  follows : 

1.  Resolved,  That  the  Federal  Government    is    one    of    limited 
powers  derived  solely  from  the  Constitution,  and  the  grants  of  power 
shown  therein  ought  to  be  strictly  construed  by  all  the  departments 
and  agents  of  the  Government,  and  that  it  is  inexpedient  and  dan- 
gerous to  exercise  doubtful  constitutional  powers. 

2.  Resolved,  That  the  Constitution  does  not  confer  upon  the  Gen- 
eral Government  the  power  to  commence   and   carry   on   a   general 
system  of  internal  improvement. 

3.  Resolved,  That  the  Constitution  does  not  confer  authority  upon 
the  Federal  Government,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  assume  the  debts 
of  the  several   States,   contracted  for  local   internal   improvements, 
or    other    State    purposes;    nor  would  such  assumption  be  just  or 
expedient. 

4.  Resolved,   That  justice  and   sound   policy   forbid   the   Federal 
Government  to  foster  one  branch  of  industry  to  the  detriment  of 
another,  or  to  cherish  the  interest  of  one  portion  to  the  injury  of 
another   portion   of   our   common   country ;    that   every   citizen   and 
every  section  of  the  country  has  a  right  to  demand  and  insist  upon 
an   equality   of   rights   and   privileges,    and   to   complete   an   ample 
protection  of  person  and  property  from  domestic  violence  or  foreign 
aggression. 

5.  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  every  branch  of  the  Govern- 
ment to  enforce  and  practise  the  most  rigid  economy  in  conducting 
our  public  affairs,   and  that  no  more  revenue  ought  to  be  raised 
than  is  required  to  defray  the  necessary   expenses  of  the  Govern- 
ment. 

6.  Resolved.  That  Congress  has  no  power  to  charter  a  United 
States  Bank;   that  we  believe  such  an  institution  one  of  deadly  hos- 
tility to  the  best  interests  of  the  country,  dangerous  to  our  Repub- 
lican institutions  and  the  liberties  of  the  people,  and  calculated  to 
place  the  business  of  the  country  within  the  control  of  a  concentrated 
money  power,  and  above  the  laws  and  the  will  of  the  people. 

7.  Resolved,  That  Congress  has  no  power,  under  the  Constitution, 
to  interfere  with  or  control  the  domestic  institutions  of  the  several 
States,  and  that  such  States  are  the  sole  and  proper  judges  of  every- 
thing appertaining  to  their  own  affairs  not  prohibited  by  the  Con- 
stitution; that  all  efforts  of  the  Abolitionists  or  others,  made  to  in- 
duce Congress  to  interfere  with  questions  of  slavery,  or  to  take  in- 
cipient steps  in  relation  thereto,  are  calculated  to  lead  to  the  most 
alarming  and  dangerous  consequences,  and  that  all  such  efforts  have 
an  inevitable  tendency  to  diminish  the  happiness  of  the  people,  and 
endanger  the  stability  and  permanency  of  the  Union,  and  ought  not 
to  be  countenanced  by  any  friend  to  our  political  institutions. 

8.  Resolved,  That  the  separation  of  the  moneys  of  the  Govern- 
ment from  banking  institutions  is  indispensable  for  the  safety  of  the 
funds  of  the  Government  and  the  rights  of  the  people. 

9.  Resolved,   That   the   liberal   principles    embodied   by   Jefferson 
in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  sanctioned  in  the  Consti- 
tution, which  makes  ours  the  land  of  liberty  and  the  asylum  of  the 
oppressed  of  every  nation,  have  ever  been  cardinal  principles  in  the 

70 


JOHN   TYLEK 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


Democratic  faith ;  and  every  attempt  to  abridge  the  present  privilege 
of  becoming  citizens  and  the  owners  of  soil  among  us  ought  to  be 
resisted  with  the  same  spirit  which  swept  the  Alien  and  Sedition 
laws  from  our  statute  book. 

The  campaign  of  1840  was  the  most  unique  of  our  political 
history.  The  Democrats,  in  attempting  to  belittle  General 
Harrison,  declared  that  he  lived  in  a  "  log  cabin"  and  drank 
hard  cider.  Instead  of  resenting  these  expressions,  intended 
to  prejudice  the  public  against  the  Whig  candidate,  the 
\Yhigs  at  once  took  up  the  log  cabin  as  one  of  the  great 
illustrative  features  of  the  contest,  and  when  the  battle 
reached  its  zenith,  and  the  people  gathered  by  thousands  at 
the  mass-meetings,  the  log  cabin  was  always  in  the  proces- 
sion as  the  symbol  of  the  simplicity  of  the  party  candidate 
for  President.  It  was  a  campaign  of  speeches  and  songs, 
and  it  developed  a  new  class  of  campaign  orators,  of  which 
the  then  celebrated  and  long  after  well-known  Buckeye 
Blacksmith  was  a  type. 

It  was  the  first  national  campaign  in  which  the  masses  of 
the  people  took  intense  interest,  and  alike  in  the  cities  of  the 
East,  the  prairies  of  the  West,  and  the  savannas  of  the 
South  the  people  were  singing  and  shouting  for  "  Tippe- 
canoe  and  Tyler,  too7^>  The  Whig  campaign  culminated  in 
a  tempest  against  the  Democrats,  and  resulted  in  the  over- 
whelming defeat  of  Van  Buren,  and  General  Harrison  cer- 
tainly contributed  largely  to  the  result  by  taking  the  stump 
in  Ohio  in  September  and  October,  to  vindicate  himself 
against  the  accusations  made  that  he  was  a  mere  puppet  in 
the  hands  of  political  leaders  and  unable  to  speak  for  him- 
self. The  following  was  the  popular  vote  for  Harrison  and 
Van  Buren : 


STATES. 

William  H. 
Harrison, 
Whig. 

Martin  Van 
Buren, 
Democrat. 

James  G. 
Birnev, 
Abolitionist. 

Total  vote. 

Alabama. 

28471 

33  991 

«o  4.co 

Arkansas. 

5  160 

6  049 

n20Q 

Connecticut  
Delaware  

31,601 
5  967 

25,296 

4  884 

174 

57,071 
10  8*51 

Georgia  

40  261 

31  933 

72  1Q4. 

Illinois  

45  537 

47  476 

149 

OQ  IfiO 

Indiana 

65  302 

51  695 

11fi  QQ7 

Kentucky  . 

58489 

32  616 

Q1  10*5 

Louisiana     . 

11  297 

7  617 

1ft  Q14. 

OUR  PRESIDENTS 


STATES. 

William  H 
Harrison, 
Whig. 

Martin  Van 
Buren, 
Democrat. 

James  G. 
Birnev, 
Abolitionist. 

Total  vote. 

Maine  

46,612 

46,201 

194 

93,007 

Maryland 

33  528 

28,752 

62,280 

Massachusetts 

72  874 

51,948 

1,621 

126,443 

Michigan 

22  933 

21,098 

321 

44,352 

Mississippi 

19  518 

16  995 

36,513 

oo  070 

29  760 

52  732 

New  Hampshire  
New  Jersey 

26,158 
33  351 

32,670 
31,034 

126 
69 

58,954 
64,454 

New  York 

225,817 

212,519 

2,798 

441,134 

4fi  Q7« 

34  218 

80  594 

Ohio 

148,157 

124^  782 

903 

273,842 

Pennsylvania  
Rhode  Island  

144,021 

5,278 

143,676 
3,301 

343 

42 

288,040 
8,621 

60  391 

48  289 

108,680 

Vermont  

32,445 

18,009 

319 

50,773 

Virginia 

42  501 

43  893 

86,394 

Total  

1,275,017 

1,128,702 

7,059 

2,410,778 

*The  electors  were  chosen  by  the  legislature. 

There  was  nothing  to  quibble  about  in  declaring  the  count 
in  Congress,  as  Harrison  had  nearly  three-fourths  of  the 
electoral  vote,  with  a  very  large  popular  majority.  While  the 
Democrats  had  not  nominated  any  candidate  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent, and  as  a  division  of  the  vote  would  be  of  little  conse- 
quence, the  Democratic  electors  generally  voted  for  Vice- 
President  Johnson  for  re-election.  Virginia,  that  cast  a  solid 
vote  against  him  four  years  before,  gave  him  2.2.  of  the  23 
votes,  and  South  Carolina,  while  voting  for  Van  Buren,  gave 
its  1 1  votes  to  L.  W.  Tazewell,  of  Virginia,  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent, leaving  Johnson  with  only  48  of  the  294  electoral  votes. 

The  following  is  the  vote  as  cast  in  the  electoral  colleges : 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


STATES. 

PRESIDENT. 

VICE-PRESIDENT. 

No.  entitled  to  vote. 

William  H.  Harrison, 
of  Ohio. 

Martin  Van  Buren, 
of  New  York. 

John  Tyler, 
of  Virginia. 

Richard  M.  Johnson, 
of  Kentucky. 

Littleton  W.  Tazewell, 
of  Virginia. 

James  K.  Polk, 
of  Tennessee. 

Alabama 

8 
3 
11 

9 
15 
5 
10 
10 
14 
3 
4 

8 
42 
15 
21 
30 
4 

15 

7 

7 
3 

5 

4 

7 

11 
23 

8 
3 
11 

9 
15 
5 
10 
10 
14 
3 
4 

~8 
42 
15 
21 
30 
4 

15 

7 

7 
3 

5 

4 

7 

22 

11 

1 

7 
3 
8 
3 
11 
5 
9 
15 
5 
10 
10 
14 
3 
4 
4 
7 
8 
42 
15 
21 
30 
4 
11 
15 
7 
23 

Arkansas 

Connecticut 

Delaware  . 

Georgia  

Illinois  

Indiana  

Kentucky  

Louisiana. 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts  

Michigan  

Mississippi  

Missouri 

New  Hampshire  
New  Jersey         .   .  . 

New  York     

North  Carolina  
Ohio                   .     . 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode  Island  
South  Carolina.. 

Tennessee  

Vermont  

Virginia  

Total  

234 

60 

234 

48 

11 

1 

294 

Harrison  was  in  feeble  health  when  he  was  called  from  the 
clerkship  of  the  Cincinnati  courts,  that  he  had  held  for  many 
years,  to  the  highest  civil  trust  of  the  world,  and  the  intense 
pressure  upon  him  after  his  election  so  impaired  his  vitality 
that  he  died  a  little  more  than  a  month  after  his  inauguration. 
Harrison's  death  was  the  first  break  in  the  Presidency  since 

73 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

the  organization  of  the  Government.  John  Tyler  was  Vice- 
President,  and  was  living  quietly  on  his  farm  on  the  Virginia 
Peninsula.  He  could  not  be  reached  by  railways,  and  tele- 
graphs were  unknown.  He  had  no  knowledge  that  he  had 
become  President  through  the  death  of  Harrison  until  late 
the  next  day,  when  Webster  and  another  member  of  the 
Cabinet  finally  found  their  way  to  his  home,  partly  by  water 
and  partly  overland,  and  formally  announced  to  him  the 
death  of  the  President  and  the  new  duties  which  devolved 
upon  him.  He  hastened  to  Washington  to  find  a  very  grave 
dispute  among  the  leading  statesmen  of  both  parties  as  to 
whether  he  became  President  or  simply  Acting  President. 
It  was  important  to  determine  whether  he  was  President 
with  the  full  title.  The  question  was  brought  up  in  Con- 
gress, and  in  the  midst  of  a  discussion  on  the  subject  a  mes- 
sage was  received  from  the  Executive  Mansion  signed 
"  John  Tyler,  President."  The  dispute  was  at  once  ended, 
and  the  question  settled  for  all  time. 


JAMES  K.   POLK 


THE  POLK-CLAY  CONTEST 

1844 

PRESIDENT  TYLER  wrecked  the  Whig  party  and  defeated 
Henry  Clay  for  President  in  1844.  The  Whigs  had  carried 
a  majority  in  both  Senate  and  House  in  the  Harrison  sweep 
of  1840,  and  they  confidently  expected  that  the  Whig  policy 
of  a  national  bank  to  take  the  place  of  the  bungling  Sub- 
Treasury,  of  aid  to  public  improvements,  and  of  a  protective 
tariff  to  stimulate  our  industries,  would  inaugurate  a  Whig 
political  system  that  could  be  permanently  maintained  by 
the  American  people.  President  Harrison  died  only  a  little 
more  than  a  month  after  he  had  been  inaugurated.  He  was 
the  oldest  President  at  the  time  of  his  inauguration  that  the 
country  has  had,  either  before  or  since,  and  he  was  physi- 
cally unequal  to  the  severe  exactions  put  upon  him  by  the 
clamor  for  political  positions.  Civil  service  reform  had 
then  no  part  in  the  politics  of  the  country,  and  as  Jackson 
and  Van  Buren  had  been  vindictively  proscriptive  in  Federal 
appointments,  it  was  logically  expected  that  there  would  be 
a  general  removal  of  the  Van  Buren  favorites.  Harrison 
exhausted  his  vitality  by  trying  to  meet  his  friends  and 
confer  with  them  about  political  appointments,  in  addition 
to  the  important  questions  of  State  which  demanded  his 
attention,  and  he  literally  wore  himself  out  and  died  from 
exhaustion. 

John  Tyler,  who  had  been  one  of  the  most  ardent  of  the 
Clay  Whigs,  was  confidently  expected  to  maintain  the  policy 
of  Harrison.  The  public  measures  advocated  by  Clay  were 
well  understood  by  all,  and  it  was  reasonable  to  assume  that 
Tyler,  who  had  been  long  one  of  his  most  earnest  supporters, 
was  in  entire  accord  with  his  chief.  A  special  session  of 
Congress  was  summoned  to  meet  on  the  3ist  of  May,  1841, 
and  the  Whigs  expected  to  carry  all  their  political  theories 
into  practical  effect  by  national  statutes  at  an  early  day. 

75 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

To  the  surprise  of  some  of  the  leaders,  President  Tyler 
exhibited  some  measure  of  unsoundness  on  the  question  of 
the  United  States  Bank,  but  after  repeated  conferences 
with  him  they  believed  that  they  could  frame  a  bill  that 
would  entirely  meet  his  views  and  command  his  approval. 
The  bill  was  passed  by  a  decided  majority  in  both  branches, 
and  the  Whigs  were  dumbfounded  by  a  prompt  veto  from 
the  President.  Other  conferences  followed,  and  a  new  bill 
was  framed,  to  which  the  President  assented,  and  although 
it  was  passed  without  amendment,  another  veto  followed. 
The  first  veto  of  the  Bank  bill  brought  out  very  angry 
criticisms  from  a  number  of  the  Whig  leaders,  and  one 
of  the  most  earnest  and  aggressive  of  Tyler's  critics  was 
John  Minor  Botts,  then  a  Whig  Congressman  from  Vir- 
ginia, and  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  erratic  of  the  Whig 
leaders  of  his  day.  It  was  believed  that  the  irritation  of  the 
President,  caused  by  the  criticisms  of  leading  Whigs,  finally 
decided  the  President  to  veto  the  second  Bank  bill. 

Thus  the  Whigs  were  defeated  in  one  of  the  cardinal 
measures  of  their  faith.  The  Whig  Senators  and  Repre- 
sentatives met  in  caucus  and  published  an  address  to  the 
country,  in  which  it  was  declared  that  "  those  who  brought 
the  President  into  power  can  no  longer  in  any  manner  or 
degree  be  justly  held  responsible  or  blamed  for  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  Executive  branch  of  the  Government."  Thus 
the  Whig  power  was  broken  and  demoralized  at  the  very 
threshold  of  its  existence,  and  the  chasm  between  the  Whig 
Senate  and  House,  on  the  one  side,  and  the  President,  on 
the  other,  steadily  widened  and  deepened  until  it  was 
admittedly  impassable. 

President  Tyler's  political  antecedents  offer  some  excuse 
for  his  failure  to  approve  the  national  bank.  He  opposed 
Jackson,  as  did  many  other  able  men  in  the  South,  because 
Jackson  had  violated  the  strict  construction  policy  of  South- 
ern leaders,  especially  in  his  aggressive  warfare  against 
nullification,  and  one  trained  in  the  school  of  strict  con- 
struction of  the  supreme  law  could  readily  find  excuse  for 
withholding  his  approval  from  the  United  States  Bank. 
The  same  principle  applied  to  internal  improvements  by  the 
Government,  and  could  have  been  applied  to  forbid  a  pro- 
tective tariff.  The  only  fruit  the  Whigs  gathered  from 
their  great  triumph  of  1840  was  the  protective  tariff  of 
1842,  that  became  so  popular,  especially  in  the  North,  that 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

many  Democrats  who  supported  Polk  in  1844  declared  that 
they  favored  the  tariff  of  1842,  and  that  it  could  not  be 
disturbed  if  Polk  were  elected.  In  Pennsylvania  it  was 
common  to  see  in  Democratic  processions  banners  bearing 
the  inscription  of  "  Polk-Dallas-Shunk  and  the  Tariff  of 
1842,"  and  a  letter  received  by  Judge  Kane,  of  Philadelphia, 
from  Mr.  Polk  during  the  campaign  was  interpreted,  and 
plausibly  interpreted,  as  meaning  an  approval  of  the  then 
existing  tariff.  The  Whigs,  defeated  in  all  their  other 
important  measures,  were  sadly  crippled  in  the  campaign 
for  the  succession,  and  even  the  tariff  of  1842  was  repealed 
for  a  moderate  free-trade  tariff  in  1846. 

President  Tyler  had  provoked  the  earnest  and  generally 
vindictive  hostility  of  the  Whigs  without  having  made 
friends  with  the  Democrats.  They  loved  and  cheered  his 
apostasy,  but  gave  no  love  or  individual  support  to  the 
apostate.  He  confidently  expected  that  they  would  make  him 
the  Democratic  candidate  for  President  in  1844,  and  that 
delusion  was  cherished  by  him  until  the  Democratic  National 
Convention  met  in  Baltimore  to  nominate  national  candi- 
dates. It  was  attended  by  a  very  large  number  of  office- 
holders and  other  friends  of  Tyler.  Finding  that  they 
could  not  command  any  support  for  their  favorite  in  the 
convention,  they  improvised  a  national  convention  of  their 
own  on  the  same  day  that  the  Democratic  convention  met, 
and  unanimously  nominated  Tyler  for  President  without 
naming  any  candidate  for  Vice-President.  The  movement 
had  no  vitality,  as  there  was  no  response  from  either  the 
press  or  the  public,  and  on  the  2Oth  of  August  Tyler  wrote 
an  elaborate  and  reproachful  letter,  withdrawing  his  name 
from  the  list  of  Presidential  candidates. 

When  his  term  ended  he  lived  in  retirement  on  his 
Virginia  farm,  unknown  and  unfelt  as  a  political  factor. 
He  was  among  the  almost  forgotten  men  of  the  past  when, 
half  a  generation  later,  he  appeared  in  Washington  as  a 
member  of  the  Peace  Convention  that  was  called  in  1861 
to  devise  some  measures  to  prevent  a  civil  war,  that  he  did 
not  live  to  see  fulfil  its  bloody  mission. 

When  Van  Buren  was  defeated  for  re-election  to  the 
Presidency  in  1840,  his  friends  imitated  the  Jackson  tactics 
of  1825  by  at  once  renominating  him  by  mass-meetings  and 
through  Democratic  newspapers  as  the  Democratic  candi- 
date for  President  in  1844,  and  a  decided  majority  of  the 

77 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

delegates  to  the  national  convention  were  either  instructed 
for  Van  Buren  or  elected  as  his  friends.  Calhoim  was 
favored  by  the  Democrats  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia, 
and  ex-Vice-President  Johnson  was  an  energetic  candidate 
for  the  nomination,  with  General  Cass,  of  Michigan,  as  the 
man  who  was  looked  to  as  most  likely  to  concentrate  the 
opposition  to  Van  Buren.  Van  Buren  was  in  the  attitude 
before  the  Democratic  National  Convention  of  1844  that 
Seward  was  before  the  Chicago  Republican  Convention  of 
1860.  A  decided  majority  of  the  delegates  desired  his 
nomination,  but  many  of  them  believed  that  Clay  would 
defeat  him,  and  they  were  quite  willing  to  reaffirm  the 
two-thirds  rule,  even  against  the  earnest  protest  of  Van 
Buren's  most  faithful  leaders,  because  it  was  well  known 
that  he  never  could  attain  the  two-thirds  vote  of  the  con- 
vention. 

Van  Buren  was  regarded  as  a  most  accomplished  and 
rather  an  unscrupulous  politician.  He  was  certainly  a 
brilliant  political  leader,  a  very  sagacious  counsellor,  and 
believed  in  shaping  the  policy  of  the  party  chiefly  or  wholly 
with  the  view  of  success  ;  but  a  short  time  before  the  meeting 
of  the  national  convention  he  made  one  of  the  boldest 
political  deliverances  of  his  life  against  the  annexation  of 
Texas,  and  he  did  it  with  the  knowledge  that  the  Democrats 
of  the  South  were  practically  united  in  the  support  of 
annexation,  with  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  Northern 
Democrats  in  harmony  with  it.  In  the  month  of  May  letters 
were  given  to  the  public  from  both  Van  Buren  and  Clay, 
opposing  the  annexation  of  Texas  at  that  time  as  inexpedi- 
ent, because  it  would  mean  war  with  Mexico,  unless  annexed 
with  the  consent  of  that  nation.  Clay's  letter  did  not 
strengthen  him  in  the  South,  but  certainly  strengthened  him 
in  the  North,  and  should  have  prevented  the  Abolition  vote 
in  New  York  from  sacrificing  Clay  and  electing  an  ardent 
supporter  of  the  annexation  of  Texas  with  its  slave  Consti- 
tution, and  under  a  treaty  that  permitted  its  subdivision 
into  four  new  States,  each  of  which  would  increase  the  slave 
power  in  the  Senate. 

Van  Buren's  letter  was  made  public  just  about  one 
month  before  the  meeting  of  the  Democratic  National  Con- 
vention, and  it  was  severely  criticised  by  Southern  news- 
papers and  Democratic  leaders  generally,  and  with  great 
severity  by  those  who  desired  his  defeat.  The  Richmond 

78 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


Enquirer,  then  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  influential  of  the 
Democratic  organs  of  the  country,  edited  by  Mr.  Ritchie, 
demanded  that  the  instructions  which  had  been  given  to 
the  Virginia  delegates  to  support  Van  Buren  should  be 
rescinded.  In  some  instances  delegates  did  disobey  Van 
Buren  instructions  and  others  resigned  rather  than  sup- 
port him. 

Vlhe  convention  met  in  Baltimore  on  the  27th  of  May, 
South  Carolina  being  the  only  State  not  represented  The 
first  important  movement  made  in  the  body  after  its  organi- 
zation was  the  readoption  of  the  two-thirds  rule,  which  all 
understood  meant  the  defeat  of  Van  Buren,  notwithstanding 
that  a  majority  of  the  delegates  would  vote  for  him.  The 
sincere  and  earnest  friends  of  Van  Buren  battled  earnestly 
against  the  adoption  of  the  rule,  but  it  finally  prevailed  by 
a  vote  of  148  to  118,  and  a  large  majority  of  the  votes  in 
favor  of  the  rule  were  cast  by  Southern  delegates.  It  was 
claimed  by  his  friends,  and  I  doubt  not  with  reason,  that 
had  the  delegates  in  the  convention  voted  as  they  had  been 
instructed  to  vote,  Van  Buren  would  have  received  within 
a  very  few  votes  of  the  necessary  two-thirds  to  make  a 
nomination  on  the  1st  ballot. 

The  convention  was  anything  but  harmonious,  and  stormy 
debates  were  common  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  convention.  Finally  the  convention 
reached  the  ballot  for  President,  and  Van  Buren  received 
on  the  ist  ballot  146  votes  to  120  for  all  others,  giving 
him  a  clear  majority  of  26  of  the  whole  convention,  but 
under  the  two-thirds  rule  it  required  178  to  nominate  him. 
The  following  table  shows  the  nine  ballots  in  detail,  the 
last  resulting  in  the  nomination  of  James  K.  Polk,  of  Ten- 
nessee : 


1st. 

2d. 

3d. 

4th. 

5th. 

6th. 

7th. 

8th. 

9th. 

M.  Van  Buren,  X.  Y.. 
L.  Cass,  Mich. 

146 
83 

127 
94 

121 
92 

Ill 
105 

103 
107 

101 

116 

99 

1°3 

104 
114 

2 
29 

R.  M.  Johnson,  Ky. 
t  Buchanan,  Pa  .  '  . 
.  Woodbury,  N.  H 
Com.  Stewart,  Pa.  . 
J.  C.  Calhoun,  S.  C. 
J.  K.  Polk,  Tenn.  .  . 

24 
4 
2 
1 
6 

33 
9 
1 
1 

1 

38 
11 
2 

2 

32 
17 

29 

26 

23 
25 

21 
22 

2 

2 
44 

233 

79 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Mr.  Polk  was  the  first  "  dark-horse"  candidate  ever 
nominated  by  any  hopeful  party  for  the  Presidency.  He 
had  not  been  discussed  as  a  candidate  for  President,  but 
had  been  pressed  by  some  of  his  political  friends  as  a 
candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency.  He  had  been  long  in 
Congress,  was  distinguished  for  his  ability  and  impartiality 
as  Speaker  of  the  House,  and  had  been  elected  Governor 
of  his  State  in  1841,  but  had  been  defeated  in  the  contest 
for  re-election  in  1843,  only  one  year  before  his  nomination 
for  President.  Although  his  nomination  for  President 
seemed  to  be  a  spontaneous  movement  of  the  convention 
to  rescue  the  party  from  its  bitter  factional  feuds  and  the 
wrangling  ambitions  of  its  leaders,  there  is  little  doubt 
that  the  slavery  managers  of  the  South  would  be  satisfied 
with  none  other  than  a  positive  Texas  annexationist,  and 
secretly  but  systematically  prepared  a  number  of  the  dele- 
gates to  accept  Polk  as  a  compromise  when  the  conven- 
tion should  come  to  a  deadlock  on  the  other  candidates. 
Polk  was  heralded  as  the  special  friend  and  protege  of 
Jackson,  who  was  yet  living,  and  those  who  paved  the  way 
for  his  nomination  had  very  plausible  arguments  to  offer, 
especially  to  Southern  men,  with  whom  the  slavery  issue 
had  become  vital.  However  the  nomination  of  Polk  may 
have  been  organized,  it  had  all  the  appearance  of  a  spon- 
taneous stampede  in  the  convention.  He  had  only  44  votes 
on  the  8th  ballot,  the  first  in  which  his  name  appears. 
While  the  9th  ballot  was  in  progress  the  delegates  began  to 
change  their  votes  to  Polk,  and  the  result  was  that  before 
its  close  the  chairmen  of  delegations  were  jostling  each 
other  to  get  their  votes  recorded  early  for  the  successful 
candidate.  The  Morse  experimental  telegraph  line  had  just 
been  completed  between  Washington  and  Baltimore,  and 
the  Democratic  leaders  at  Washington  were  advised  by 
telegraph  of  Folk's  nomination,  to  which  a  congratulatory 
response  was  promptly  given. 

Although  the  Van  Buren  men  had  finally  voted  for  Polk, 
preferring  him  to  any  of  the  candidates  who  had  aggres- 
sively opposed  the  success  of  Van  Buren,  they  were  pro- 
foundly grieved  at  Van  Buren's  defeat.  They  believed  that 
slavery  had  crucified  Van  Buren,  and  it  was  their  purpose, 
during  the  flush  of  their  anger,  to  allow  Polk  to  suffer 
a  humiliating  disaster.  The  friends  of  Polk  well  understood 
the  deep  disaffection  that  would  confront  them  among  the 

80 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

friends  of  Van  Buren,  and  they  adopted  the  very  shrewd 
policy  of  taking  Van  Buren's  ablest  lieutenant  as  the  can- 
didate for  Vice-President.  Silas  Wright,  of  New  York, 
Van  Buren's  own  State,  was  then  one  of  the  ablest  of  the 
Democratic  Senators  of  that  day,  and  a  most  zealous  sup- 
porter of  Van  Buren.  He  was  nominated  for  Vice-President 
by  practically  a  unanimous  vote,  only  eight  of  the  Georgia 
delegates  preferring  Levi  Woodbury,  of  New  Hampshire. 
Mr.  Wright,  being  in  the  Senate  at  Washington,  was  at 
once  informed  by  telegraph  of  his  nomination,  but  smarting 
under  what  he  believed  to  be  the  betrayal  of  Van  Buren,  he 
promptly  sent  a  curt  and  peremptory  declination  back  on  the 
wire.  Had  there  been  no  electric  telegraph,  Mr.  Wright 
would  have  accepted  the  nomination  for  Vice-President  and 
been  elected  to  that  position,  but  the  success  of  Morse's 
great  invention,  that  had  been  completed  between  Washing- 
ton and  Baltimore  only  a  few  days  before  the  convention 
met,  changed  his  political  destiny. 

After  mature  reflection  the  friends  of  Van  Buren  were 
brought  to  terms  by  the  Democratic  leaders  in  the  interest 
of  Polk,  and  they  decided  to  give  a  cordial  support  to  the 
national  ticket,  but  New  York  was  regarded  as  certain  to 
vote  against  Polk  unless  some  extraordinary  measures  were 
adopted  to  save  it.  It  was  finally  decided  that  only  by 
nominating  Senator  Wright  for  Governor  could  the  vote 
of  the  State  be  assured  to  Polk,  and  the  man  who  had 
declined  the  Vice-Presidency  that  was  within  his  reach, 
because  he  expected  and  really  desired  the  ticket  to  be 
defeated,  was  compelled  to  resign  his  seat  in  the  Senate 
to  accept  the  Democratic  nomination  for  Governor  of  New 
York.  He  was  admittedly  the  strongest  man  in  the  party, 
and  it  was  that  nomination  that  saved  the  Democrats  of 
New  York  from  demoralization  and  made  Mr.  Polk  Presi- 
dent. 

Two  years  later  Wright  suffered  a  humiliating  defeat  in 
a  contest  for  re-election,  and  thus  ended  a  political  career 
that  should  have  been  rounded  out  in  the  second  office  of  the 
Government.  Jackson  was  made  President  because  there 
were  no  steamers,  cables,  or  telegraphs  to  advise  him  on  the 
8th  of  January,  1815,  when  he  fought  and  won  the  battle 
of  New  Orleans,  that  peace  had  been  declared  between  the 
two  nations  a  fortnight  before,  and  Silas  Wright  lost  the 
Vice-Presidency  and  ended  his  political  career  in  disaster 

81 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 


because  the  telegraph  had  just  been  invented  and  put  into 
operation  between  Washington  and  Baltimore. 

The  convention  then  proceeded  to  a  second  nomination 
for  Vice-President,  with  the  following  result : 


1st 
Ballot. 

2d 
Ballot. 

John  Fairfield,  Maine     

107 

30 

L/evi  Woodbury,  New  Hampshire  

44 

6 

Lewis  Cass,  Michigan  

39 

R  M  Johnson    Kentucky  . 

26 

Com   Stewart   Pennsylvania 

23 

Geo   M   Dallas    Pennsylvania 

13 

220 

Wm.  L.  Marcy  ,  New  York  

5 

The  nomination  of  Dallas  was  made  unanimous. 

In  constructing  the  Democratic  platform  for  1844  the 
Democrats  threw  out  a  political  drag-net.  The  first  Demo- 
cratic national  platform  that  had  been  adopted  by  the  con- 
vention of  1840  was  embodied  in  its  entirety  in  the  platform 
of  this  convention,  and  the  following  new  resolutions  added : 

Resolved,  That  the  American  Democracy  place  their  trust,  not 
in  factitious  symbols,  not  in  displays  and  appeals  insulting  to  the 
judgment  and  subversive  of  the  intellect  of  the  people,  but  in  a  clear 
reliance  upon  the  intelligence,  patriotism,  and  the  discriminating 
justice  of  the  American  people. 

Resolved,  That  we  regard  this  as  a  distinctive  feature  of  our 
political  creed,  which  we  are  proud  to  maintain  before  the  world, 
as  the  great  moral  element  in  a  form  of  government  springing  from 
and  upheld  by  the  popular  will;  and  we  contrast  it  with  the  creed 
and  practice  of  Federalism,  under  whatever  name  or  form,  which 
seeks  to  palsy  the  will  of  the  constituent,  and  which  conceives  no 
imposture  too  monstrous  for  the  popular  credulity. 

Resolved,  Therefore,  that,  entertaining  these  views,  the  Demo- 
cratic party  of  this  Union,  through  the  delegates  assembled  in  gen- 
eral convention  of  the  States,  coming  together  in  a  spirit  of  con- 
cord, of  devotion  to  the  doctrines  and  faith  of  a  free  representative 
Government,  and  appealing  to  their  fellow-citizens  for  the  rectitude 
of  their  intentions,  renew  and  reassert  before  the  American  people 
the  declaration  of  principles  avowed  by  them  on  a  former  occasion, 
when,  in  general  convention,  they  presented  their  candidates  for 
the  popular  suffrage. 

Resolved,  That  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  ought  to  be  sa- 
credly applied  to  the  national  objects  specified  in  the  Constitution; 
and  that  we  are  opposed  to  the  laws  lately  adopted,  and  to  anv  law, 
for  the  distribution  of  such  proceeds  among  the  States,  as  alike  in- 
expedient in  policy  and  repugnant  to  the  Constitution. 

82 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


Resolved,  That  we  are  decidedly  opposed  to  taking  from  the 
President  the  qualified  veto  power  by  which  he  is  enabled,  under 
restrictions  and  responsibilities  amply  sufficient  to  guard  the  public 
interest,  to  suspend  the  passage  of  a  bill,  whose  merits  cannot  secure 
the  approval  of  two-thirds  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa- 
tives, until  the  judgment  of  the  people  can  be  obtained  thereon,  and 
which  has  thrice  saved  the  American  people  from  the  corrupt  and 
tyrannical  domination  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States. 

Resolved,  That  our  title  to  the  whole  of  the  territory  of  Oregon 
is  clear  and  unquestionable ;  that  no  portion  of  the  same  ought  to 
be  ceded  to  England  or  any  other  power ;  and  that  the  reoccupa- 
tion  of  Oregon  and  the  reannexation  of  Texas  at  the  earliest  prac- 
tical period  are  great  American  measures  which  this  convention 
recommends  to  the  cordial  support  of  the  Democracy  of  the 
Union. 

Resolved,  That  this  convention  hold  in  the  highest  estimation  and 
regard  their  illustrious  fellow-citizen,  Martin  Van  Buren  of  New 
York ;  that  we  cherish  the  most  grateful  and  abiding  sense  of  the 
ability,  integrity,  and  firmness  with  which  he  discharged  the  duties 
of  the  high  office  of  President  of  the  United  States,  and  especially 
of  the  inflexible  fidelity  with  which  he  maintained  the  true  doctrines 
of  the  Constitution  and  the  measures  of  the  Democratic  party  during 
his  trying  and  nobly  arduous  administration ;  that  in  the  memorable 
struggle  of  1840  he  fell  a  martyr  to  the  great  principles  of  which  he 
was  the  worthy  representative,  and  we  revere  him  as  such;  and  that 
we  hereby  tender  to  him,  in  honorable  retirement,  the  assurance  of 
the  deeply  seated  confidence,  affection,  and  respect  of  the  American 
Democracy. 

The  Whigs  had  nominated  their  national  ticket  in  advance 
of  the  Democrats,  the  convention  having  been  held  at  Bal- 
timore on  the  ist  of  May^with  every  State  fully  represented. 
It  was  a  national  assembly  of  unusual  ability,  and  was  most 
heartily  and  enthusiastically  united  in  the  support  of  Clay 
for  the  Presidency.  It  did  not  require  the  formality  of  a 
ballot  to  present  him  as  the  Whig  candidate,  and  his  nomina- 
tion was  made  by  acclamation.  It  required  three  ballots  to 
nominate  a  candidate  for  Vice-President,  as  follows : 


First. 

Second. 

Third. 

T.  Frelinghuysen,  N.  J  

101 

118 

155 

John  Davis  Mass 

83 

74 

79 

Millard  Fillmore   N.  Y 

53 

51 

40 

John  Sergeant,  Penn     .... 

38 

32 

Total.. 

275 

275 

274 

OUR  PRESIDENTS 

The  platform  adopted  by  the  Whigs  was  brief  but  ex- 
pressive. The  Whig  faith  was  tersely  given  in  a  single  reso- 
lution. The  other  resolutions  were  simply  eloquent  tributes 
to  Clay  and  Frelinghuysen,  and  the  convention  adjourned, 
making  the  welkin  ring  with  cheers  for  "  Harry  Clay  of 
the  West "  and  for  the  "  Mill  Boy  of  the  Slashes,"  and  ab- 
solutely confident  of  the  triumphant  election  of  their  great 
leader  to  the  highest  honors  of  the  Republic.  The  first  Whig 
national  platform  was  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That,  in  presenting  to  the  country  the  names  of  Henry 
Clay  for  President  and  of  Theodore  Frelinghuysen  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent  of  the  United  States,  this  convention  is  actuated  by  the  con- 
viction that  all  the  great  principles  of  the  Whig  party — principles 
inseparable  from  the  public  honor  and  prosperity — will  be  main- 
tained and  advanced  by  these  candidates. 

Resolved,  That  these  principles  may  be  summed  as  comprising: 
a  well-regulated  currency;  a  tariff  for  revenue  to  defray  the  neces- 
sary expenses  of  the  Government,  and  discriminating  with  special 
reference  to  the  protection  of  the  domestic  labor  of  the  country; 
the  distribution  of  the  proceeds  from  the  sales  of  the  public  lands; 
a  single  term  for  the  presidency ;  a  reform  of  executive  usurpations ; 
and  generally  such  an  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the  country  as 
shall  impart  to  every  branch  of  the  public  service  the  greatest  prac- 
tical efficiency,  controlled  by  a  well-regulated  and  wise  economy. 

Resolved,  That  the  name  of  Henry  Clay  needs  no  eulogy.  The 
history  of  the  country  since  his  first  appearance  in  public  life  is  his 
history.  Its  brightest  pages  of  prosperity  and  success  are  identified 
with  the  principles  which  he  has  upheld,  as  its  darkest  and  more 
disastrous  pages  are  with  every  material  departure  in  our  public 
policy  from  those  principles. 

Resolved,  That  in  Theodore  Frelinghuysen  we  present  a  man 
pledged  alike  by  his  Revolutionary  ancestry  and  his  own  public 
course  to  every  measure  calculated  to  sustain  the  honor  and  interest 
of  the  country.  Inheriting  the  principles  as  well  as  the  name  of  a 
father  who,  with  Washington,  on  the  fields  of  Trenton  and  of  Mon- 
mouth,  perilled  life  in  the  contest  for  liberty,  and  afterward,  as  a 
Senator  of  the  United  States,  acted  with  Washington  in  establishing 
and  perpetuating  that  liberty,  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  by  his  course 
as  Attorney-General  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey  for  twelve  years,  and 
subsequently  as  a  Senator  of  the  United  States  for  several  years, 
was  always  strenuous  on  the  side  of  law,  order,  and  the  Constitu- 
tion, while,  as  a  private  man,  his  head,  his  hand,  and  his  heart  have 
been  given  without  stint  to  the  cause  of  morals,  education,  philan- 
thropy, and  religion. 

The  third  national  convention  that  presented  candidates 
for  the  campaign  of  1844  was  that  of  the  Abolitionists. 
They  had  grown  since  1840,  when  they  first  nominated  Mr. 
Birney  as  their  candidate,  and  their  platform,  elaborate  as  it 

84 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

is,  is  well  worthy  of  careful  study.  It  met  at  Buffalo,  in 
August,  1843,  and  nominated  James  G.  Birney,  of  New 
York,  for  President,  and  Thomas  Morris,  of  Ohio,  for  Vice- 
President,  and  it  increased  its  vote  up  to  62,300,  all  of 
which  were  cast  in  the  Northern  States,  including  15,812 
for  Birney  in  New  York.  As  nearly  all  of  them  were  of 
"Whig  antecedents,  they  would  have  preferred  Clay  to  Polk 
if  they  had  not  presented  a  ticket  of  their  own  to  divert 
their  votes,  and  it  was  their  support  of  Birney  that  gave 
Polk  the  majority  over  Clay  in  the  Empire  State,  whose  elec- 
toral vote  decided  the  contest.  The  following  is  the  full  text 
of  the  first  platform  presented  by  an  Abolition  national 
convention : 

Resolved,  That  human  brotherhood  is  a  cardinal  principle  of  true 
democracy,  as  well  as  of  pure  Christianity,  which  spurns  all  incon- 
sistent limitations ;  and  neither  the  political  party  which  repudiates 
it  nor  the  political  system  which  is  not  based  upon  it  can  be  truly 
democratic  or  permanent. 

Resolved,  That  the  Liberty  party,  placing  itself  upon  this  broad 
principle,  will  demand  the  absolute  and  unqualified  divorce  of  the 
General  Government  from  slavery,  and  also  the  restoration  of  equal- 
ity of  rights  among  men,  in  every  State  where  the  party  exists  or 
may  exist. 

Resolved,  That  the  Liberty  party  has  not  been  organized  for  any 
temporary  purpose  by  interested  politicians,  but  has  arisen  from 
among  the  people  in  consequence  of  a  conviction,  hourly  gaining 
ground,  that  no  other  party  in  the  country  represents  the  true 
principles  of  American  liberty  or  the  true  spirit  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States. 

Resolved,  That  the  Liberty  party  has  not  been  organized  merely 
for  the  overthrow  of  slavery.  Its  first  decided  effort  must  indeed  be 
directed  against  slaveholding  as  the  grossest  and  most  revolting 
manifestation  of  despotism,  but  it  will  also  carry  out  the  principle 
of  equal  rights  into  all  its  practical  consequences  and  applications, 
and  support  every  just  measure  conducive  to  individual  and  social 
freedom. 

Resolved,  That  the  Liberty  party  is  not  a  sectional  party,  but  a 
national  party ;  was  not  originated  in  a  desire  to  accomplish  a  single 
object,  but  in  a  comprehensive  regard  to  the  great  interests  of  the 
whole  country;  is  not  a  new  party  nor  a  third  party,  but  is  the 
party  of  1776,  reviving  the  principles  of  that  memorable  era,  and 
striving  to  carry  them  into  practical  application. 

Resolved,  That  it  was  understood  in  the  times  of  the  Declara- 
tion and  the  Constitution  that  the  existence  of  slavery  in  some  of 
the  States  was  in  derogation  of  the  principles  of  American  liberty, 
and  a  deep  stain  upon  the  character  of  the  country  and  the  implied 
faith  of  the  States;  and  the  nation  was  pledged  that  slavery  should 
never  be  extended  beyond  its  then  existing  limits,  but  should  be 
gradually,  and  yet  at  no  distant  day,  wholly  abolished  by  State 
authority. 

85 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Resolved,  That  the  faith  of  the  States  and  the  nation  thus 
pledged  was  most  nobly  redeemed  by  the  voluntary  abolition  of 
slavery  in  several  of  the  States,  and  by  the  adoption  of  the  ordinance 
of  1787  for  the  government  of  the  territory  northwest  of  the  river 
Ohio,  then  the  only  territory  in  the  United  States,  and  consequently 
the  only  territory  subject  in  this  respect  to  the  control  of  Con- 
gress, by  which  ordinance  slavery  was  forever  excluded  from  the 
vast  regions  which  now  compose  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illi- 
nois, Michigan,  and  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin,  and  an  incapacity 
to  bear  up  any  other  than  free  men  was  impressed  on  the  soil  itself. 
Resolved,  That  the  faith  of  the  States  and  nation  thus  pledged 
has  been  shamefully  violated  by  the  omission  on  the  part  of  many 
of  the  States  to  take  any  measures  whatever  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery  within  their  respective  limits ;  by  the  continuance  of  slavery 
in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  in  the  Territories  of  Louisiana 
and  Florida ;  by  the  legislation  of  Congress ;  by  the  protection  af- 
forded by  national  legislation  and  negotiation  to  slaveholding  in 
American  vessels,  on  the  high  seas,  employed  in  the  coastwise  slave 
traffic ;  and  by  the  extension  of  slavery  far  beyond  its  original  limits, 
by  acts  of  Congress  admitting  new  Slave  States  into  the  Union. 

Resolved,  That  the  fundamental  truth  of  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence, that  all  men  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  cer- 
tain unalienable  rights,  among  which  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pur- 
suit of  happiness,  was  made  the  fundamental  law  of  our  National 
Government  by  that  amendment  of  the  Constitution  which  declares 
that  no  person  shall  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property  without 
due  process  of  law. 

Resolved,  That  we  recognize  as  sound  the  doctrine  maintained 
by  slaveholding  jurists,  that  slavery  is  against  natural  rights  and 
strictly  local,  and  that  its  existence  and  continuance  rest  on  no 
other  support  than  State  legislation,  and  not  on  any  authority  of 
Congress. 

Resolved,  That  the  General  Government  has,  under  the  Constitu- 
tion, no  power  to  establish  or  continue  slavery  anywhere,  and  there- 
fore that  all  treaties  and  acts  of  Congress  establishing,  continuing, 
or  favoring  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  in  the  Territory  of 
Florida,  or  on  the  high  seas,  are  unconstitutional,  and  all  attempts 
to  hold  men  as  property  within  the  limits  of  exclusive  national 
jurisdiction  ought  to  be  prohibited  by  law. 

Resolved,  That  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  which  confer  extraordinary  political  powers  on  the  owners 
of  slaves,  and  thereby  constituting  the  two  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand slaveholders  in  the  Slave  States  a  privileged  aristocracy,  and 
the  provision  for  the  reclamation  of  fugitive  slaves  from  service,  are 
anti-republican  in  their  character,  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  the 
people,  and  ought  to  be  abrogated. 

Resolved,  That  the  practical  operation  of  the  second  of  these 
provisions  is  seen  in  the  enactment  of  the  Act  of  Congress  respect- 
ing persons  escaping  from  their  masters,  which  act,  if  the  construc- 
tion given  to  it  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  the 
case  of  Prigg  v.  Pennsylvania  be  correct,  nullifies  the  habeas  corpus 
acts  of  all  the  States,  takes  away  the  whole  legal  security  of  per- 
sonal freedom,  and  ought  therefore  to  be  immediately  repealed. 
Resolved,  That  the  peculiar  patronage  and  support  hitherto  ex- 

86 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

tended  to  slavery  and  slavehoiding  by  the  General  Government  ought 
to  be  immediately  withdrawn,  and  the  example  and  influence  of 
national  authority  ought  to  be  arrayed  on  the  side  of  liberty  and 
free  labor. 

Resolved,  That  the  practice  of  the  General  Government,  which 
prevails  in  the  Slave  States,  of  employing  slaves  upon  the  public 
works,  instead  of  free  laborers,  and  paying  aristocratic  masters,  with 
a  view  to  secure  or  reward  political  services,  is  utterly  indefensible 
and  ought  to  be  abandoned. 

Resolved,  That  the  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press,  and  the 
right  of  petition  and  the  right  of  trial  by  jury,  are  sacred  and  in- 
violable ;  and  that  all  rules,  regulations,  and  laws  in  derogation  of 
either  are  oppressive,  unconstitutional,  and  not  to  be  endured  by  free 
people. 

Resolved,  That  we  regard  voting,  in  an  eminent  degree,  as  a  moral 
and  religious  duty,  which,  when  exercised,  should  be  by  voting  for 
those  who  will  do  all  in  their  power  for  immediate  emancipation. 

Resolved,  That  this  convention  recommend  to  the  friends  of  lib- 
erty in  all  those  Free  States  where  any  inequality  of  rights  and  privi- 
leges exists  on  account  of  color,  to  employ  their  utmost  energies  to 
remove  all  such  remnants  and  effects  of  the  slave  system. 

ll'hcreas,  The  Constitution  of  these  United  States  is  a  series  of 
agreements,  covenants,  or  contracts  between  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  each  with  all  and  all  with  each ;  and 

IVhcreas,  It  is  a  principle  of  universal  morality,  that  the  moral 
laws  of  the  Creator  are  paramount  to  all  human  laws ;  or,  in  the 
language  of  an  Apostle,  that  "we  ought  to  obey  God  rather  than 
men ;"  and 

ll'hcreas,  The  principle  of  common  law,  that  any  contract,  cove- 
nant, or  agreement  to  do  an  act  derogatory  to  natural  rights  is  vitiated 
and  annulled  by  its  inherent  immorality,  has  been  recognized  by 
one  of  the  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  who 
in  a  recent  case  expressly  holds  that  any  "  contract  that  rests  upon 
such  a  basis  is  void;"  and 

Whereas,  The  third  clause  of  the  second  section  of  the  fourth 
article  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  when  construed  as 
providing  for  the  surrender  of  a  fugitive  slave,  does  "  rest  upon  such 
a  basis,"  in  that  it  is  a  contract  to  rob  a  man  of  a  natural  right, 
namely,  his  natural  right  to  his  own  liberty,  and  is,  therefore,  ab- 
solutely void ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  we  hereby  give  it  to  be  distinctly  understood  by 
this  nation  and  the  world,  that,  as  Abolitionists,  considering  that 
the  strength  of  our  cause  lies  in  its  righteousness,  and  our  hope  for 
it  in  our  conformity  to  the  laws  of  God  and  our  respect  for  the 
rights  of  man,  we  owe  it  to  the  Sovereign  Ruler  of  the  universe,  as 
a  proof  of  our  allegiance  to  Him,  in  all  our  civil  relations  and  offices, 
whether  as  private  citizens  or  as  public  functionaries  sworn  to  sup- 
port the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  to  regard  and  to  treat 
the  third  clause  of  the  fourth  article  of  that  instrument,  whenever 
applied  to  the  case  of  a  fugitive  slave,  as  utterly  null  and  void,  and 
consequently  as  forming  no  part  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  whenever  we  are  called  upon  or  sworn  to  support  it. 

Resolved,  That  the  power  given  to  Congress  by  the  Constitution, 
to  provide  for  calling  out  the  militia  to  suppress  insurrection,  does 

87 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

not  make  it  the  duty  of  the  Government  to  maintain  slavery  by  mili- 
tary force,  much  less  does  it  make  it  the  duty  of  the  citizens  to  form 
a  part  of  such  military  force.  When  freemen  unsheath  the  sword, 
it  should  be  to  strike  for  liberty,  not  for  despotism. 

Resolved,  That  to  preserve  the  peace  of  the  citizens  and  secure 
the  blessings  of  freedom,  the  Legislature  of  each  of  the  Free  States 
ought  to  keep  in  force  suitable  statutes  rendering  it  penal  for  any 
of  its  inhabitants  to  transport,  or  aid  in  transporting  from  such  State, 
any  person  sought  to  be  thus  transported  merely  because  subject 
to  the  slave  laws  of  any  other  State ;  this  remnant  of  independence 
being  accorded  to  the  Free  States  by  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  in  the  case  of  Prigg  v.  The  State  of  Pennsylvania. 

Mr.  Clay  enjoyed  a  much  larger  measure  of  personal  pop- 
ularity than  any  other  man  in  the  nation,  and  he  was  univer- 
sally accepted  as  the  most  gifted  political  orator  of  his  day. 
He  was  to  the  Whigs  of  that  time  what  Blaine  was  to  the 
Republicans  during  his  several  unsuccessful  battles  for  the 
Presidency.  It  is  a  notable  fact  in  political  history  that  no 
pre-eminent  political  orator  ever  succeeded  in  reaching  the 
Presidency.  Garfield  was  the  nearest  approach  to  it,  but 
he  was  a  contemporary  of  Blaine,  and  Blaine  far  outstripped 
him  either  on  the  hustings  or  in  parliamentary  debate.  Clay 
had  entered  both  the  House  and  Senate  when  little  more 
than  eligible  by  age,  and  he  was  admittedly  the  most  accom- 
plished presiding  officer  the  House  ever  had.  He  was  the 
Commoner  of  the  war  of  1812,  and  rendered  most  conspicu- 
ous service  to  his  country.  His  speeches  in  the  House  did 
more  than  the  persuasion  of  any  other  dozen  men  to  force 
the  young  Republic  into  a  second  contest  with  England  on 
the  right  of  search  on  the  high  seas.  He  was  always  strong 
in  argument,  was  often  impassioned  and  superbly  eloquent, 
and  in  every  great  emergency  of  the  country  during  the  first 
half  of  the  present  century  he  was  the  pacificator.  President 
Madison  was  most  reluctant  to  declare  war  against  Eng- 
land, and  he  yielded  to  it  only  when  it  became  a  supreme 
necessity  to  obey  the  general  demand  of  the  country  for  an 
appeal  to  arms. 

When  Clay  wras  nominated  for  President  in  1844,  it  was 
generally  believed  that  he  would  have  an  easy  victory  over 
Van  Buren,  and  when  Polk,  of  Tennessee,  was  made  the 
compromise  candidate  against  him,  the  Whigs  at  first  be- 
lieved that  the  nomination  of  a  comparatively  obscure  man 
against  the  great  chieftain  of  the  Whigs  would  give  them  a 
walk-over.  The  campaign  had  made  little  progress,  how- 

88 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

ever,  until  the  Whigs  discovered  that  the  Democrats  were 
going  to  be  thoroughly  united  on  Polk,  and  that  he  was  prob- 
ably the  strongest  candidate  who  could  have  been  nominated 
against  Clay.  His  chief  strength  was  in  his  negative  qual- 
ities. He  had  not  been  involved  in  any  of  the  conflicts  of 
ambition  among  the  Democratic  leaders.  He  was  regarded 
as  the  favorite  of  Jackson,  and  while  his  nomination  had 
been  made  without  any  previous  discussion  or  suggestion 
of  his  claims  to  the  Presidency,  he  had  filled  high  State  and 
national  positions  with  credit,  and  he  could  not  be  accused 
of  incompetency.  I  doubt  indeed  whether  any  other  Demo- 
crat could  have  been  nominated  by  the  Democratic  conven- 
tion to  make  a  successful  battle  against  Clay. 

The  Whigs  entered  the  contest  defiant  in  confidence  and 
enthusiastic  to  a  degree  that  had  never  before  been  exhibited 
in  the  support  of  any  candidate.  The  devotion  of  the  Whigs 
to  Clay  was  little  less  than  idolatry,  and  strong  men  shed 
scalding  tears  over  his  defeat.  He  was  largely  handicapped 
in  his  battle  by  the  complications  put  upon  the  Whig  party 
by  President  Tyler.  The  Cabinet  was  wholly  Democratic 
and  bitterly  against  Clay.  Under  the  demoralization  caused 
by  Tyler's  betrayal  of  the  party  the  Whigs  had  lost  the  House 
in  1842,  but  they  retained  their  mastery  in  the  Senate,  and  a 
new  peril  to  Clay  was  soon  developed  in  the  growth  of  the 
Abolition  sentiment  of  Western  New  York.  Neither  Clay 
nor  Polk  made  campaign  speeches,  and  both  maintained 
themselves  with  scrupulous  dignity  throughout  the  long  and 
exceptionally  desperate  contest. 

Pennsylvania  was  then,  as  in  1860,  the  pivotal  State  of  the 
struggle,  and  the  death  of  the  Democratic  candidate  for  Gov- 
ernor during  the  midsummer  deprived  the  Whigs  of  a 
source  of  strength  that  most  likely  would  have  given  them 
the  State  in  October.  The  Democrats  had  a  violent  factional 
dispute  in  choosing  a  candidate  for  Governor.  Mr.  Muhlen- 
berg,  who  had  been  a  bolting  candidate  against  Governor 
Wolfe  in  1835,  thereby  electing  Ritner,  the  anti- Masonic  can- 
didate, was  finally  nominated  for  Governor  over  Francis  R. 
Shunk,  the  candidate  of  the  opposing  faction.  Muhlenberg 
was  weakened  by  his  aggressive  factional  record,  and  the 
Democrats  were  hardly  hopeful  of  his  election,  but  he  died 
just  when  the  struggle  was  at  its  zenith,  and  Shunk  was 
then  unanimously  and  cordially  accepted  as  the  Democratic 
leader. 

89 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

vThe  Whigs  had  nominated  General  Markle,  of  Westmore- 
land, who  was  unquestionably  the  strongest  man  they  could 
have  presented.  The  Presidential  battle  was  practically 
fought  in  that  contest  for  Governor,  and  when  Shunk  was 
elected  by  4397  majority,  there  were  few  who  cherished 
much  hope  of  Clay's  election.  Pennsylvania  lost  in  October 
could  not  be  regained  in  November,  but  the  Whigs  did  not 
in  any  measure  relax  their  efforts,  and  Polk  carried  the 
State  over  Clay  by  6332.) 

When  Pennsylvania  faltered  the  greatly  impaired  hopes  of 
the  Whigs  centred  in  New  York,  as  it  was  believed  that 
New  York  might  decide  the  contest  in  favor  of  Clay,  even 
with  Pennsylvania  certain  to  vote  against  him.  The  nomina- 
tion of  Silas  Wright  for  Governor  had  thoroughly  united  the 
Van  Buren  followers  in  support  of  Polk,  and  while  Clay 
stood  against  the  annexation  of  Texas  and  the  extension  of 
the  slave  power,  the  antislavery  sentiment  of  New  York  was 
greatly  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  both  Clay  and  Polk 
were  Southerners  and  slaveholders.  Birney,  the  Abolition 
candidate,  received  15,812  votes,  while  Polk's  majority  in  the 
State  was  5106.  Mr.  Greeley,  who  was  one  of  the  leaders 
in  the  antislavery  movement,  and  much  more  practical  than 
the  organized  Abolitionists,  bitterly  denounced  that  party 
for  defeating  Clay.  In  his  Whig  Almanac  for  1845  he  had 
an  elaborate  review  of  the  contest,  in  which  he  said : 

'  The  year  1844  just  ended  has  witnessed  one  of  the  most 
extraordinary  political  contests  that  has  ever  occurred.  So 
nice  and  equal  a  balance  of  parties ;  so  universal  and  intense 
an  interest;  so  desperate  and  protracted  a  struggle,  are  en- 
tirely without  parallel.  .  .  .  James  K.  Polk  owes  his 
election  to  the  Birney  or  Liberty  party.  Had  there  been  no 
such  party  drawing  its  votes  nine-tenths  from  the  Whig 
ranks,  Mr.  Clay  would  have  received  at  least  the  votes  of 
New  York  and  Michigan,  in  addition  to  those  actually  cast 
for  him,  giving  him  146  electoral  votes  to  Polk's  129.  To 
Birney  &  Co.,  therefore,  is  the  country  indebted  for  the  elec- 
tion of  Polk  and  the  annexation  and  anti-tariff  ascendency 
in  the  Federal  Government." 

The  number  of  States  voting  was  26,  the  same  as  in  1840. 
The  new  Congressional  apportionment  had  reduced  the 
Representatives  from  242  to  223,  making  the  total  number  of 
electors  275.  The  following  table  exhibits  the  popular  and 
electoral  vote: 

90 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


POPULAR 

VOTE. 

ELEC 

TORS. 

STATES. 

James  K.  Polk, 
Democrat. 

| 

Z£ 

James  G.  Birney, 
Li  berty-  Abolition- 
ist. 

Total  vote. 

jj 
I 

1 

Alabama 

37  740 

26  084 

63824 

9 

Arkansas 

9  546 

5  504 

15050 

3 

Connecticut  
Delaware 

29,841 
5,996 

32,832 
6  278 

1,943 

64,616 

12,274 

6 
3 

Georgia  .  . 

44,177 

42,106 

86,283 

10 

Illinois  

57,920 

45,528 

3,570 

107,018 

9 

Indiana 

70  181 

67867 

2  106 

140  154 

12 

Kentucky. 

51  988 

61  255 

113  243 

12 

Louisiana 

13  782 

13083 

26865 

6 

Maine 

45,719 

34378 

4836 

84  933 

9 

Maryland 

32,676 

35  984 

3,308 

71,968 

8 

Massachusetts 

52,846 

67,418 

10,860 

131,124 

12 

Michigan   .  .    . 

27,759 

24,337 

3,632 

55,728 

5 

Mississippi  

25,126 

19,206 

44,332 

6 

Missouri 

41  369 

31  251 

72  620 

7 

Xe\v  Hampshire  .  .  . 
New  Tersev 

27,160 
37,495 

17,866 
38  318 

4,161 
131 

49,187  ! 
75  944 

6 

7 

New  York  

237,588 

232482 

15812 

485882 

36 

North  Carolina  
Ohio 

39,287 
149  117 

43,232 
155  057 

8  050 

82,519 
312224 

11 
23 

Pennsylvania  
Rhode  Island  

167,535 

4,867 

161,203 
7,322 

3,138 
107 

331,876 
12,296 

26 

4 

South  Carolina*.  .  . 
Tennessee 

59,917 

60030 

119  947 

9 

13 

Vermont 

18  041 

26  770 

3  954 

48  765 

6 

Virginia 

49  570 

43  677 

93247 

17 

Total 

1,337,243 

1  299068 

65,608 

2  701,919 

170 

105 

*  The  electors  were  chosen  by  the  legislature. 

The  Whigs,  in  keen  despair  over  the  defeat  of  their  ablest 
and  most  beloved  champion,  charged  fraud  as  the  controlling 
factor  in  giving  the  Democrats  their  victory,  but  the  battle 
had  been  fought  and  lost,  and  there  was  nothing  left  for 
them  but  submission.  The  electoral  count  was  uneventful, 
and  Polk  and  Dallas  were  formally  declared  elected  Presi- 
dent and  Vice-President  without  objection. 

The  most  desperate  contests  outside  of  New  York  and 

91 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Pennsylvania  were  made  in  Tennessee  and  Delaware.  Ten- 
nessee was  the  home  of  Polk,  and  the  "  Old  Hero  of  New 
Orleans"  threw  himself  into  the  contest  for  Polk  with  tire- 
less energy.  He  inspired  his  veteran  followers  not  only 
because  he  wanted  Polk  elected,  but  because  he  much  more 
wanted  Clay  defeated.  Clay  had  defeated  him  for  President 
in  the  House  in  1825,  and  Jackson  never  forgot  a  friend  and 
rarely  forgave  an  enemy.  It  was  many  days  after  the  elec- 
tion before  the  vote  of  Tennessee  could  be  ascertained,  and 
it  was  claimed  by  both  parties  until  the  official  vote  was  de- 
clared. It  was  finally  announced  that  Clay  had  carried  the 
State  by  113,  and  the  success  of  Clay  in  that  State  was  the 
only  silver  lining  the  Whigs  had  to  the  dark  cloud  of  their 
defeat. 

VVnother  memorable  battle,  though  not  in  any  sense  an 
important  contest  as  affecting  the  result,  was  fought  in  Dela- 
ware. The  States  did  not  then  vote  for  President  on  the 
same  day  as  now.  All  of  them  voted  for  Presidential  electors 
in  the  month  of  November,  although  at  that  time  nearly  all 
the  States  elected  their  State  officers  and  Congressmen 
earlier  in  the  year.  Delaware,  with  only  3  electoral  votes, 
held  both  her  State  and  her  Presidential  elections  on  the 
second  Tuesday  of  November,  and  when  her  election  day 
came  around  it  was  known  to  all  that  Clay  was  absolutely 
defeated  for  President) 

QJew  York  and  Pennsylvania  had  voted  for  Polk  a  week 
before,  and  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  November  only  Massa- 
chusetts and  Delaware  were  left  among  the  States  that  had 
not  yet  chosen  electors.  Massachusetts  was  Whig  and 
hardly  contested,  but  Delaware  made  a  most  heroic  battle  for 
Clay,  even  when  it  was  known  that  a  victory  in  the  little 
Diamond  State  could  not  aid  the  election  of  their  favorite. 
The  Democrats,  inspired  by  their  positively  assured  success 
in  the  national  contest,  exhausted  their  resources  and  efforts 
to  win,  but  in  the  largest  vote  ever  cast  in  the  State,  Clay  won 
by  287  majority,  receiving  a  larger  vote  than  was  cast  for 
the  Whig  candidates  for  Governor  or  for  Congress,  both  of 
whom  were  successful,  the  first  by  45  majority  and  the  last 
by  17?) 

The  Kentucky  electors  met  at  their  Capitol  on  the  day 
appointed  for  the  electoral  colleges  to  cast  their  votes  for 
President,  and  in  sorrowing  devotion  to  their  chief  cast  the 
vote  of  the  State  for  Clay  for  President.  After  their  official 

92 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

duties  had  been  performed  a  committee  was  appointed  to 
prepare  an  address  to  be  delivered  to  Mr.  Clay  at  Ashland. 
All  the  members  of  the  college,  with  many  other  citizens, 
accompanied  the  committee,  and  Clay  met  them  at  his  hos- 
pitable door  to  hear  the  address  delivered  by  Mr.  Under- 
wood, the  chairman.  Clay's  reply  was  one  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful of  his  very  many  exquisite  illustrations  of  oratory.  He 
said  he  would  not  "affect  indifference  to  the  personal  concern 
which  I  had  in  the  political  contest  just  terminated,  but  un- 
less I  am  greatly  self-deceived,  the  principal  attraction  to  me 
of  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States  arose  out  of 
the  cherished  hope  that  I  might  be  an  humble  instrument,  in 
the  hands  of  Providence,  to  accomplish  public  good,"  and  in 
conclusion  he  said :  "  I  heartily  thank  you,  sir,  for  your 
friendly  wishes  for  my  happiness  in  the  retirement  which 
henceforth  best  becomes  me."  Thus  closed  the  memorable 
Polk-Clay  contest  of  1844. 


THE  TAYLOR-CASS-VAN  BUREN 
CONTEST 

1848 

PRESIDENT  POLK  was  not  blessed  with  a  tranquil  admin- 
istration. The  annexation  of  Texas  had  been  approved  by 
Tyler  several  days  before  Polk  was  inaugurated  as  President, 
and  that  at  once  made  strained  relations  between  this  coun- 
try and  Mexico.  It  was  an  open  secret  then,  and  is  now 
a  part  of  the  undisputed  history  of  the  country,  that  the  elec- 
tion of  Polk  and  the  annexation  of  Texas  were  regarded  by 
the  friends  of  slavery  extension  as  most  important  achieve- 
ments, and  that  period  dated  the  aggressive  action  of  the 
South,  first  to  extend  and  next  to  nationalize  slavery.  The 
annexation  of  Texas  brought  in  a  Slave  State  and  two 
United  States  Senators,  with  the  treaty  right  to  add  eight 
new  Senators  by  the  subdivision  of  the  State. 

This  met  Calhoun's  complaint  that  the  South  could  not 
maintain  its  equilibrium  in  the  Senate  because  of  the  growing 
West.  The  purposes  of  the  Southern  extensionists,  however, 
went  far  beyond  the  annexation  of  Texas.  They  meant  to 
have  part  of  Mexico,  peaceably  if  possible,  by  war  if  neces- 
sary ;  and  the  war  was  deliberately  planned  and  precipitated 
upon  Mexico  by  the  action  of  the  administration.  The  ter- 
ritory between  the  Nueces  and  the  Rio  Grande  rivers  was 
claimed  by  both  Texas  and  Mexico,  but  Mexico  had  exer- 
cised uniform  jurisdiction.  Texas  had  never  served  a  writ 
or  collected  a  dollar  of  revenue  on  the  Rio  Grande,  and  the 
United  States  army  of  occupation,  commanded  by  General 
Taylor,  had  not  gone  south  of  the  Nueces.  There  was  much 
violent  discussion  in  Mexico  over  the  annexation  of  Texas, 
whose  independence  Mexico  disputed,  and  threats  of  war 
were  freely  made. 

The  President,  without  the  authority  or  knowledge  of 

94 


ZACHAKY  TAYLOR 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

Congress,  ordered  General  Taylor  to  march  to  the  Rio 
Grande  and  maintain  it  as  the  southern  line  of  Texas.  This 
precipitated  the  battles  of  Palo  Alto  and  Resaca  de  la 
Palma,  in  which  Taylor  defeated  the  Mexicans.  The  Demo- 
cratic Congress  then  prefaced  a  bill  providing  for  the  na- 
tional defence  by  declaring  that  "  we  are  at  war  by  the  act 
of  Mexico."  The  purpose  of  the  Mexican  war  was  very 
freely  and  severely  criticised  by  a  large  portion  of  the  people 
and  by  many  of  the  ablest  men  of  the  nation.  The  Whigs 
in  Congress  were  willing  to  vote  for  all  needed  appropria- 
tions for  the  support  of  the  army,  but  a  few  members  of  the 
House,  with  the  late  John  Strohm,  of  Pennsylvania,  as  the 
leader,  after  unsuccessfully  struggling  to  strike  out  the 
declaration  that  "  we  were  at  war  by  the  act  of  Mexico," 
refused  to  vote  for  the  army  appropriation ;  and  Corwin,  of 
Ohio,  made  the  ablest  speech  that  ever  was  delivered  in  the 
Senate,  with  the  single  exception  of  Webster's  reply  to 
Hayne,  against  the  Mexican  war  and  against  appropriating 
money  for  its  prosecution. 

The  certainty  that  the  administration  would  acquire  a 
large  portion  of  Mexican  territory  for  the  purpose  of  creat- 
ing new  Slave  States  gave  dignity  and  importance  to  the 
slavery  agitation  that  it  never  before  attained,  and  in  the 
fall  elections  of  1846  the  Whigs  carried  the  popular  branch 
of  Congress  by  a  decided  majority.  The  repeal  of  the  pro- 
tective tariff  of  1842  and  the  substitution  of  the  revenue 
tariff  of  1846  contributed  considerably  to  the  Democratic 
disaster,  and  the  war  was  finally  prosecuted  by  the  admin- 
istration with  an  adverse  House,  although  willing  to  furnish 
all  appropriations  necessary  to  support  the  armies  in  the  field. 

After  Taylor's  early  victories  over  the  Mexicans  he  in- 
vaded Mexican  territory  and  captured  Monterey,  and  these 
victories  made  his  name  a  household  word  throughout  the 
country.  Instead  of  permitting  Taylor  to  proceed  with  the 
war  that  he  had  so  successfully  conducted  up  to  that  time, 
the  administration  decided  to  practically  retire  him.  General 
Scott  was  called  to  plan  an  independent  campaign  from 
Vera  Cruz  to  the  capital  of  Mexico.  It  was  openly  charged 
that  the  administration  feared  the  popularity  of  "  Old  Zach," 
as  Taylor  was  generally  called  by  the  people,  and  that  it  had 
little  fear  of  Scott  as  a  Presidential  candidate.  Scott  planned 
his  campaign;  was  furnished  with  an  independent  army, 
and  when  he  arrived  at  Vera  Cruz  he  stripped  General  Tay- 

8  95 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

lor  of  nearly  all  his  regulars,  leaving  him  an  army  of  but  lit- 
tle over  4000,  most  of  them  volunteers.  Santa  Anna,  whose 
return  to  Mexico  had  been  sanctioned  by  our  Government, 
made  himself  Military  Dictator.  He  gathered  an  army  of 
22,000  of  the  best  Mexican  troops  and  made  a  rapid  move- 
ment to  strike  and  crush  General  Taylor  at  Buena  Vista. 
The  history  of  that  battle  is  well  known.  Taylor  not  only 
defeated  but  routed  the  Mexicans,  and  thereby  made  himself 
the  next  President  of  the  United  States. 

General  Scott  made  a  most  brilliant  campaign,  fighting 
repeated  battles,  and  finally  captured  the  City  of  Mexico, 
when  the  administration  involved  him  in  bitter  controversy, 
as  was  easily  done  with  General  Scott,  and  had  him  tried  by 
a  court  of  his  inferiors  in  the  Capitol  of  the  enemy  he  had 
conquered.  Brilliant  as  was  his  military  campaign  he  re- 
turned home  with  little  if  any  increased  prestige,  and  every 
schoolbov  in  the  land  was  huzzaing  for  "  Old  Zach,"  or  for 
"  Old  Rough  and  Ready." 

There  seems  to  be  poetic  justice  in  the  marvellous  his- 
torical fact  that  with  the  large  amount  of  territory  conquered 
from  Mexico,  and  the  additional  territory  afterward  pur- 
chased by  the  Gadsden  treaty,  the  South  did  not  gain  a  single 
Slave  State,  and  it  quickened  the  issue  of  slavery  that  greatly 
hastened  its  destruction  just  when  it  hoped  to  attain  omnipo- 
tence. 

It  was  uncertain  after  the  war  of  Mexico  was  inaugurated 
and  the  certainty  of  the  acquisition  of  Mexican  territory  ac- 
cepted just  when  and  in  what  shape  the  issue  of  the  exten- 
sion of  slavery  would  be  presented.  To  the  surprise  of  the 
friends  of  the  administration  it  came  much  sooner  and  in 
much  graver  form  than  they  had  anticipated.  On  the  8th 
of  August,  1846,  President  Polk  sent  a  message  to  Congress 
asking  for  an  appropriation  to  be  placed  at  the  President's 
disposal  to  enable  him  to  negotiate  an  advantageous  treaty 
of  peace  with  the  Mexican  Government,  and  a  bill  was 
promptly  presented  to  the  House  appropriating  $32,000,000 
for  immediate  use  in  negotiations  with  Mexico.  There  were 
a  number  of  able  and  earnest  antislavery  Democrats  in  the 
House,  and  among  them  David  Wilmot,  of  Pennsylvania. 
When  the  bill,  making  the  large  appropriation  to  obtain 
peace  with  Mexico,  that  obviously  meant  the  acquisition  of 
Southern  territory,  was  presented  to  the  House,  repeated 
conferences  were  had  between  the  antislavery  Democratic 

96 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

leaders,  and  what  has  since  been  known  as  the  "  Wilmot 
Proviso"  was  originally  drawn  by  Judge  Brinkerhoff,  then 
a  Democratic  Congressman  from  Ohio,  and  finally  revised 
and  agreed  upon,  to  be  offered  as  an  amendment  to  the  Mexi- 
can Appropriation  bill. 

The  Speaker  was  adverse  to  the  antislavery  Democrats, 
and  it  was  uncertain  whether  any  of  them  could  obtain  the 
floor  to  offer  the  amendment.  The  result  was  that  a  copy  of 
the  proviso  was  furnished  to  some  half  a  dozen,  with  the 
understanding  that  each  should  take  advantage  of  any  op- 
portunity to  obtain  the  floor  during  the  consideration  of  the 
bill  and  offer  the  amendment.  The  opportunity  happened 
to  come  to  Mr.  Wilmot,  and  he  offered  the  following  amend- 
ment, that  is  the  original  of  what  is  now  known  as  the  "  Wil- 
mot Proviso." 

"Provided,  That  as  an  express  and  fundamental  condition  to 
the  acquisition  of  any  territory  from  the  Republic  of  Mexico  by  the 
United  States,  by  virtue  of  any  treaty  that  may  be  negotiated  between 
them,  and  to  the  use  by  the  Executive  of  the  moneys  herein  ap- 
propriated, neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  shall  ever  exist 
in  any  part  of  said  territory  except  for  crime  whereof  the  party  shall 
be  first  duly  convicted." 

This  proviso  came  like  a  bombshell  into  the  ranks  of  the 
administrationists,  and  they  were  unable  to  defeat  it.  It 
was  carried  in  Committee  of  the  Whole  by  a  vote  of  83  to 
64,  with  only  3  Democrats  from  the  Free  States  opposing 
it.  When  the  measure  was  reported  to  the  House,  Mr.  Tib- 
batts,  of  Kentucky,  moved  that  it  do  lie  on  the  table,  and  the 
motion  was  defeated  by  93  to  79.  The  bill  was  engrossed  for 
third  reading  by  85  to  80,  and  passed  finally  without  further 
division,  with  a  motion  to  reconsider  laid  on  the  table  by 
vote  of  83  to  73.  Thus  wrhat  is  now  known  as  the  Wilmot 
Proviso  was  embodied  by  the  House  in  the  Appropriation  bill 
for  negotiating  peace  with  Mexico. 

The  Wilmot  Proviso  raised  the  slavery  issue  in  the  most 
direct  form,  and  it  played  an  important  part  in  the  Presiden- 
tial contest  of  1848.  It  was  simply  a  repetition  of  the  clause 
prohibiting  slavery  that  was  put  in  the  ordinance  of  1787 
by  Thomas  Jefferson,  when  the  Northwestern  Territory 
was  ceded  by  Virginia  to  the  United  States.  It  was  a  very 
embarrassing  issue  to  many  Northern  Democrats,  and  to  a 
few  Southern  Whigs  who  inclined  to  prevent  slavery  exten- 
sion. General  Cass,  who  was  made  the  candidate  for  Presi- 

97 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

dent  in  1848,  originally  declared  himself  in  favor  of  the 
Wilmot  Proviso,  but  he  learned  a  year  later  that  no  man 
could  maintain  his  fellowship  with  the  Democratic  party 
under  the  Polk  administration  and  support  the  prohibition  of 
slavery  in  the  Territories. 

When  the  discussion  of  candidates  for  the  Presidential 
contest  of  1848  became  active,  General  Cass  was  addressed 
on  the  subject  of  slavery  by  A.  O.  P.  Nicholson,  of  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  in  which  he  inquired  of  Cass  whether  he  was  in  favor 
of  the  acquisition  of  Mexican  territory,  and  what  his  views 
were  as  to  the  Wilmot  Proviso.  General  Cass  answered, 
December  24,  1847,  in  which  he  declared  himself  in  favor  of 
the  acquisition  of  Mexican  territory  and  against  the  Wilmot 
Proviso,  on  which  point  he  said :  "  I  am  strongly  impressed 
with  the  opinion  that  a  great  change  has  been  going  on  in 
the  public  mind  upon  this  subject,  in  my  own  as  well  as 
others,  and  that  doubts  are  resolving  themselves  into  con- 
victions that  the  principle  it  involves  should  be  kept  out  of 
the  national  Legislature  and  left  to  the  people  of  the  Con- 
federacy in  their  respective  local  governments."  But  for  this 
declaration  Cass  would  not  have  been  the  Democratic  candi- 
date for  President  in  1848,  and  that  declaration  also  opened 
the  door  for  the  Van  Buren  bolt  that  defeated  Cass  in  the 
great  ambition  of  his  life. 

In  addition  to  the  serious  political  complications  which 
confronted  the  Polk  administration  and  threatened  the  defeat 
of  the  Democratic  party  at  its  close,  the  Oregon  dispute  with 
England,  that  had  been  made  one  of  the  chief  features  of  the 
Polk  campaign  of  1844,  was  sensibly  adjusted  by  Secretary 
of  State  Buchanan,  but  in  utter  disregard  of  the  Demo- 
cratic declarations  and  ostentatious  professions  of  the  cam- 
paign. In  that  contest  the  Democrats  from  every  stump 
declared  that  the  boundary  line  between  Oregon  and  Eng- 
land must  be  "  54°  40',  or  fight " ;  but  when  the  issue  be- 
came a  question  of  statesmanship  and  diplomacy,  a  treaty 
was  made  fixing  49°  as  the  boundary,  and  thus  confessing 
that  the  claim  of  the  Democrats  in  the  campaign  was  made 
either  in  ignorance  or  insincerity. 

Another  of  the  troubles  that  confronted  the  Democracy 
was  the  intense  factional  dispute  in  New  York  between 
what  were  known  as  the  Hunkers  and  the  Barnburners. 
The  Hunkers  were  so  called  in  derision  by  their  enemies  as 
men  who  always  hunkered  after  office,  and  the  Barnburners 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

were  so  called  by  their  opponents  because  it  was  charged  that 
to  correct  evils  in  the  party,  they  were  ready  to  follow  the 
foolish  farmer  who  burnt  his  barn  to  rid  it  of  rats. 

Silas  Wright,  who  had  lost  the  Vice-Presidency  in  1844  by 
his  devotion  to  Van  Buren,  and  was  finally  compelled  to  run 
for  Governor  to  save  the  State,  suffered  a  severe  defeat  in 
1846  when  a  candidate  for  re-election.  That  defeat  was 
charged  by  Van  Buren  and  His  friends  to  the  perfidy  of  the 
Hunkers.  So  intense  was  the  bitterness  between  these  fac- 
tions that  they  could  not  agree  on  delegations  to  the  national 
convention,  and  two  opposing  delegations  were  chosen,  the 
Barnburners  being  antislavery  Democrats  and  the  Hunkers 
the  regular  or  pro-slavery  Democrats.  The  national  conven- 
tion met  at  Baltimore  on  the  22d  of  May,  1848,  with  every 
State  represented,  and  New  York  with  a  double  delegation. 
Andrew  Stevenson,  of  Virginia,  was  made  President,  and 
the  two-thirds  rule  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  175  to  78.  For 
two  days  the  convention  wrangled  over  the  disputing  delega- 
tions from  New  York,  and  after  protracted  and  angry  de- 
bate a  motion  was  finally  passed  by  126  to  124  admitting 
both  delegations,  each  to  cast  half  the  vote  of  the  State. 

While  this  was  a  comparative  victory  for  the  Barn- 
burners, they  withdrew  from  the  convention,  and  the 
Hunker  delegation  refused  to  participate  in  the  proceedings. 
The  prominent  candidates  before  the  convention  for  Presi- 
dent were  Cass  and  Buchanan,  with  Cass  immensely  in  the 
lead  and  reasonably  certain  to  be  nominated  before  the  con- 
vention met.  He  had  a  large  plurality  on  the  ist  ballot,  but 
did  not  reach  the  requisite  two-thirds  vote  until  the  4th,  as 
is  shown  by  the  following  table,  giving  the  ballots  in  detail : 


First. 

Second. 

Third. 

Fourth. 

Necessary  to  a  choice  

168 

168 

169 

169 

Lewis  Cass,  Mich  

125 

133 

156 

179 

James  Buchanan  Penn. 

55 

54 

40 

33 

Levi  Woodbury,  N.  H 

53 

56 

53 

38 

George  M.  Dallas,  Penn  
W.  J.  Worth   Tenn 

3 

6 

3 
6 

5 

1 

John  C.  Calhoun  S  C 

9 

W.  O.  Butler  Ky 

3 

The  convention  adjourned  after  the  nomination  of  Cass 
to  meet  in  evening  session  to  select  a  candidate  for  Vice- 


99 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

President,  and  without  any  preliminaries  the  ballot  was  had 
as  follows : 


Wm.  O.  Butler,  Ky 114 

J.  A.  Quitman,  Miss 74 

John  Y.  Mason,  Va 24 


Wm.  R.  King,  Ala 29 

Jas.  J.  McKay,  N.  C 13 

Jefferson  Davis,  Miss 1 


A  2d  ballot  was  had  and  ended  in  the  unanimous  nomina- 
tion of  Butler. 

The  platform  of  the  party  was  not  reported  until  the  fifth 
and  final  day  of  the  convention,  and  it  was  altogether  the 
most  elaborate  declaration  of  principles  ever  made  by  a  polit- 
ical party  in  national  convention.  Immediately  after  the 
first  resolution  as  we  give  it  followed  the  full  text  of  the 
Democratic  platforms  adopted  in  1840  and  1844,  and  to  the 
fifth  resolution  of  the  platform  of  1844  the  following  sen- 
tence was  added :  "  And  for  the  gradual  but  certain  ex- 
tinction of  the  debt  created  by  the  prosecution  of  a  just  and 
necessary  war  after  peaceful  relations  shall  have  been  re- 
stored." The  Democratic  platform  of  1848,  therefore,  in- 
cluded the  platforms  of  1840  and  1844,  wTith  the  following 
new  declarations  of  faith : 

Resolved,  That  the  American  Democracy  place  their  trust  in  the 
intelligence,  the  patriotism,  and  the  discriminating  justice  of  the 
American  people. 

Resolved,  That  the  war  with  Mexico,  provoked  on  her  part  by 
years  of  insult  and  injury,  was  commenced  by  her  army  crossing 
the  Rio  Grande,  attacking  the  American  troops,  and  invading  our 
sister  State  of  Texas ;  and  that,  upon  all  the  principles  of  patriotism 
and  the  laws  of  nations,  it  is  a  just  and  necessary  war  upon  our 
part,  in  which  every  American  citizen  should  have  shown  himself 
on  the  side  of  his  country,  and  neither  morally  nor  physically,  by 
word  or  deed,  have  given  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemy. 

Resolved,  That  we  should  be  rejoiced  at  the  assurance  of  a  peace 
with  Mexico,  founded  on  the  just  principles  of  indemnity  for  the 
past  and  security  for  the  future ;  but  that,  while  the  ratification  of 
the  liberal  treaty  offered  to  Mexico  remains  in  doubt,  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  country  to  sustain  the  administration  in  every  measure  neces- 
sary to  provide  for  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war,  should 
that  treaty  be  rejected. 

Resolved,  That  the  officers  and  soldiers  who  have  carried  the 
arms  of  their  country  into  Mexico  have  crowned  it  with  imperishable 
glory.  Their  unconquerable  courage,  their  daring  enterprise,  their 
unfaltering  perseverance  and  fortitude  when  assailed  on  all  sides 
by  innumerable  foes — and  that  more  formidable  enemy,  the  diseases 
of  the  climate — exalt  their  devoted  patriotism  into  the  highest 
heroism,  and  give  them  a  right  to  the  profound  gratitude  of  their 
country  and  the  admiration  of  the  world. 


100 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

Resolved,  That  the  Democratic  National  Comentjon,  r>f  thirtr 
States,  composing  the  American  Republic,  tender  -tmfif  'fraternal 
congratulations  to  the  National  Convention  of  the  Republic  of 
France,  now  assembled  as  the  free  suffrage  representatives  of  the 
sovereignty  of  thirty-five  millions  of  republicans,  to  establish  gov- 
ernments on  those  eternal  principles  of  equal  rights,  for  which  their 
Lafayette  and  our  Washington  fought  side  by  side  in  the  struggle 
for  our  national  independence;  and  we  would  especially  convey  to 
them  and  to  the  whole  people  of  France  our  earnest  wishes  for  the 
consolidation  of  their  liberties,  through  the  wisdom  that  shall  guide 
their  counsels,  on  the  basis  of  a  democratic  constitution,  not  de- 
rived from  the  grants  or  concessions  of  kings  or  dynasties,  but 
originating  from  the  only  true  source  of  political  power  recognized 
in  the  States  of  this  Union :  the  inherent  and  inalienable  rights  of 
the  people,  in  their  sovereign  capacity,  to  make  and  to  amend  their 
forms  of  government  in  such  a  manner  as  the  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity may  require. 

Resolved,  That  with  the  recent  development  of  this  grand  political 
truth — of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  and  their  capacity  and  power 
for  self-government,  which  is  prostrating  thrones  and  erecting  re- 
publics on  the  ruins  of  despotism  in  the  Old  World — we  feel  that 
a  high  and  sacred  duty  is  devolved,  with  increased  responsibility, 
upon  the  Democratic  party  of  this  country,  as  the  party  of  the  people, 
to  sustain  and  advance  among  us  constitutional  liberty,  equality,  and 
fraternity,  by  continuing  to  resist  all  monopolies  and  exclusive  legis- 
lation for  the  benefit  of  the  few  at  the  expense  of  the  many;  and 
by  a  vigilant  and  constant  adherence  to  those  principles  and  com- 
promises of  the  Constitution,  which  are  broad  enough  and  strong 
enough  to  embrace  and  uphold  the  Union  as  it  was,  the  Union  as 
it  is,  and  the  Union  as  it  shall  be,  in  the  full  expansion  of  the 
energies  and  capacity  of  this  great  and  progressive  people. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  forwarded,  through 
the  American  Minister  at  Paris,  to  the  National  Convention  of  the 
Republic  of  France. 

Resolved,  That  the  fruits  of  the  great  political  triumph  of  1844, 
which  elected  James  K.  Polk  and  George  M.  Dallas  President  and 
Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  have  fulfilled  the  hopes  of  the 
Democracy  of  the  Union  in  defeating  the  declared  purposes  of  their 
opponents  to  create  a  national  bank;  in  preventing  the  corrupt  and 
unconstitutional  distribution  of  the  land  proceeds,  from  the  common 
treasury  of  the  Union,  for  local  purposes ;  in  protecting  the  currency 
and  labor  of  the  country  from  ruinous  fluctuations,  and  guarding 
the  money  of  the  people  for  the  use  of  the  people ;  by  the  establish- 
ment of  the  constitutional  treasury ;  in  the  noble  impulse  given 
to  the  cause  of  free  trade,  by  the  repeal  of  the  tariff  of  1842,  and 
the  creation  of  the  more  equal,  honest,  and  productive  tariff  of 
1846 ;  and  that,  in  our  opinion,  it  would  be  a  fatal  error  to  weaken 
the  hands  of  a  political  organization  by  which  these  great  reforms 
have  been  achieved,  and  risk  them  in  the  hands  of  their  known  ad- 
versaries, with  whatever  delusive  appeals  they  may  solicit  our  sur- 
render of  that  vigilance  which  is  the  only  safeguard  of  liberty. 

Resolved,  That  the  confidence  of  the  Democracy  of  the  Union  in 
the  principles,  capacity,  firmness,  and  integrity  of  James  K.  Polk, 
manifested  by  his  nomination  and  election  in  1844,  has  been  signally 

101 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Justified  by  the  strictness  of  his  adherence  to  sound  Democratic 
doctrines,  by  the  purity  of  purpose,  the  energy  and  ability  which 
have  characterized  his  administration  in  all  our  affairs  at  home  and 
abroad ;  that  we  tender  to  him  our  cordial  congratulations  upon  the 
brilliant  success  which  has  hitherto  crowned  his  patriotic  efforts,  and 
assure  him  in  advance  that,  at  the  expiration  of  his  Presidential  term, 
he  will  carry  with  him  to  his  retirement  the  esteem,  respect,  and  ad- 
miration of  a  grateful  country. 

Resolved,  That  this  convention  hereby  present  to  the  people  of 
the  United  States  Lewis  Cass,  of  Michigan,  as  the  candidate  of  the 
Democratic  party  for  the  office  of  President,  and  William  O.  Butler, 
of  Kentucky,  as  the  candidate  of  the  Democratic  party  for  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States. 

After  the  platform  had  been  reported,  Mr.  Yanrey,  of 
Alabama,  offered  an  additional  resolution  providing,  "  That 
the  doctrine  of  non-interference  with  the  rights  of  property 
of  any  portion  of  the  people  of  this  Confederacy,  be  it  in  the 
States  or  Territories  thereof,  by  any  other  than  the  parties 
interested  in  them,  is  the  true  Republican  doctrine  recognized 
by  this  body,"  but  it  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  216  to  36. 
Yancey's  resolution  stated  just  what  the  convention  believed, 
but  what  it  did  not  dare  express. 

Notwithstanding  the  serious  complications  which  con- 
fronted the  Democrats  at  the  opening  of  the  campaign  of 
1848,  they  started  out  with  every  prospect  of  electing  their 
national  ticket.  Cass  was  accepted  as  the  ablest  of  the  Demo- 
cratic leaders  of  that  day,  and  his  nomination  seemed  to  in- 
spire the  Democrats  to  earnest  effort  for  his  election.  There 
was  then  no  apprehension  of  the  Van  Buren  bolt  that  grew  to 
such  immense  proportions  before  the  campaign  closed,  and 
made  the  defeat  of  Cass  inevitable. 

The  Whigs  were  in  an  unfortunate  position  to  go  before 
the  country.  They  had  opposed  the  Mexican  war  vehe- 
mently, had  protested  against  the  acquisition  of  Mexican  ter- 
ritory, and  were  certain  to  be  divided  on  sectional  lines  aris- 
ing from  the  additional  Territories  and  future  States  our  ex- 
pansion was  sure  to  give  us.  They  were  in  the  same  position 
in  which  they  found  themselves  in  1839,  when  they  had  to 
unite  discordant  elements  of  opposition  to  Van  Buren  to  win 
the  victory.  The  idolatry  for  Clay  was  yet  cherished  in  all 
its  intensity,  and  although  enfeebled  by  age,  he  yielded  to  the 
earnest  importunities  of  his  friends,  and  announced  himself 
as  candidate  for  the  nomination,  though  all  intelligent  and 
dispassionate  Whig  leaders  knew  that  he  was  not  available. 

1 02 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

General  Scott  had  been  clouded  by  serious  differences 
with  the  administration,  in  which  his  volubility  had  served 
his  enemies  a  good  purpose,  and  Webster  never  had  a  large 
popular  following  as  a  Presidential  candidate.  It  was  the 
first  national  convention  that  I  ever  witnessed,  being  then 
a  boy  editor  in  the  interior  and  not  old  enough  to  vote  for  the 
men  I  supported.  It  was  held  in  Chinese  Hall,  in  Philadel- 
phia, where  the  Continental  Hotel  now  stands,  and  was  dom- 
inated by  the  wonderfully  able  political  leaders  and  states- 
men which  the  South  produced  in  ante-bellum  days.  They 
knew  that  they  could  not  meet  the  slavery  issue  in  the  new 
Territories,  and  they  presented  General  Taylor  to  the  con- 
vention, and,  without  a  pledge  from  Taylor  himself,  they 
formally  pledged  themselves  to  the  convention  that  if  not 
nominated  he  would  not  be  the  candidate  of  any  other  party, 
apd  would  support  the  ticket. 

llhe  Whig  National  Convention  convened  at  Philadelphia 
on  the  7th  of  June,  with  a  full  representation  from  every 
State  excepting  Texas.)  Ex-Governor  John  M.  Morehead,  of 
North  Carolina,  presided.  The  conferences  of  the  Whig 
leaders  were  anything  but  harmonious,  and  there  were  indi- 
cations at  times  of  an  open  and  very  serious  rupture.  Clay's 
friends  knew  that  it  was  the  last  battle  that  ever  could  be 
made  for  him.  Their  idolatry  for  Clay  made  them  earnest, 
enthusiastic,  even  desperate,  although  most  of  them  could  not 
but  foresee  that  his  nomination  was  impossible,  and  that  his 
election,  if  nominated,  would  be  quite  improbable. 

The  friends  of  Clay  and  Scott  did  not  take  kindly  to  Gen- 
eral Taylor.  He  had  been  nominated  some  time  before  by 
a  Native  American  National  Convention  that  then  repre- 
sented but  an  inconsiderable  following  principally  in  the 
Eastern  cities,  and  he  had  never  distinctly  declared  his  devo- 
tion to  the  Whig  policy.  Congressman  L.  D.  Campbell,  of 
Ohio,  offered  a  resolution  just  before  the  balloting  began, 
declaring  that  the  convention  should  not  entertain  the  can- 
didacy of  any  man  for  President  or  Vice-President  "  who 
had  not  given  assurances  that  he  would  abide  by  the  action 
of  the  convention ;  that  he  would  accept  the  nomination  and 
that  he  would  consider  himself  the  candidate  of  the  Whig 
party."  An  angry  debate  was  avoided  by  the  President 
ruling  the  resolution  out  of  order.  Mr.  Campbell  appealed, 
.but  the  appeal  was  lost.  Mr.  Fuller,  of  New  York,  then 
offered  a  resolution  declaring  that  no  man  should  be  nomi- 

103 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

nated  for  President  unless  "  he  stands  pledged  to  support 
in  good  faith  the  nominees  and  to  be  the  exponent  of  Whig 
principles."  This  was  also  ruled  out  of  order,  and  an  appeal 
was  tabled. 

Even  after  Taylor  had  been  nominated,  Mr.  Allen,  of 
Massachusetts,  who  afterward  bolted  the  party  and  sup- 
ported Van  Buren  as  a  Free  Soiler,  offered  a  resolution  de- 
claring that  the  Whig  party  would  abide  by  the  nomination 
of  Taylor  on  condition  that  he  would  accept  the  nomination 
as  the  candidate  of  the  Whig  party,  and  adhere  to  its  great 
fundamental  principles  of  no  extension  of  slavery  territory, 
no  acquisition  of  foreign  territory  by  conquest,  protection 
to  American  industry,  and  opposition  to  Executive  usurpa- 
tion." That  was  ruled  out  of  order,  as  were  several  other 
resolutions  aiming  at  some  expression  on  the  question  of 
slavery. 

The  Southern  Whig  leaders  saw  that  the  only  possible  way 
to  save  the  Whigs  in  the  South  was  to  nominate  a  Southern 
man ;  General  Taylor  was  the  only  Southern  man  whom 
they  believed  could  command  favor  in  the  North,  and  they 
wanted  no  expression  from  the  convention  on  any  of  the 
delicate  and  perilous  issues  which  confronted  them.  A  num- 
ber of  leading  Southern  delegates,  headed  by  Balie  Peyton, 
of  Tennessee,  gave  their  formal  pledge  to  the  convention  that 
General  Taylor  would  accept  the  nomination  and  would 
abide  by  the  decision  of  the  party,  and  that  he  could  safely 
be  trusted  as  an  exponent  of  the  Whig  policy.  The  conven- 
tion had  three  ballots  before  a  choice  was  reached  for  Presi- 
dent, as  follows : 


First. 

Second. 

Third. 

Fourth. 

Zachary  Taylor,  La  

Ill 

118 

133 

171 

Henry  Clay,  Ky  

97 

86 

74 

32 

Winfield  Scott   N   j 

43 

49 

54 

63 

Daniel  Webster   Mass 

22 

22 

17 

14 

John  McLean,  Ohio 

2 

John  M   Clayton   Del 

4 

4 

1 

The  nomination  of  Taylor  was  not  made  unanimous,  as  a 
number  of  the  New  England  delegates  and  some  from  Ohio 


104 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

had  decided  not  to  support  him  under  any  circumstances,  and 
they  were  later  welcomed  into  the  Free  Soil  Democracy  that 
nominated  Van  Buren  on  the  distinct  antislavery  extension 
platform.  Among  the  most  disgruntled  of  those  who  at- 
tended the  convention  was  Horace  Greeley.  I  met  him  then 
for  the  first  time,  and  saw  as  much  of  him  as  I  could,  as  he 
was  my  ideal  fellow-editor.  As  soon  as  Taylor  was  nom- 
inated he  started  for  New  York,  and  I  met  him  just  as  he  was 
departing.  He  was  evidently  in  great  haste  to  make  the 
Camden  &  Amboy  train,  and  he  was  hurrying  down  Chest- 
nut Street.  His  low-crowned,  broad-brimmed,  fuzzy  fur  hat 
set  at  an  angle  of  45  degrees  on  the  back  of  his  head,  his  pro- 
fusion of  shirt  collar  protected  from  wandering  over  his 
shoulders  by  an  immense  black  silk  handkerchief  he  used  as  a 
necktie,  with  the  awkward  knot  serenely  resting  under  his 
left  ear,  and  his  immense  baggy  black  swallowtail  coat,  and 
the  literal  carpetbag  he  held  by  one  handle,  while  the  other 
lay  down  on  the  side  of  the  bag,  did  not  contribute  much 
toward  his  genteel  appearance.  It  was  evident  that  he  was 
mad  clear  through.  In  answer  to  my  question  as  to  how  he 
liked  the  nomination  of  Taylor,  he  curtly  answered,  "  Can't 
say  that  I  admire  it,"  and  shuffled  along  toward  the  ferry, 
but  the  Tribune  of  the  next  morning  had  a  terrific  leader 
against  Taylor,  the  title  of  which  was  "  The  Philadelphia 
Slaughterhouse,"  and  Greeley  long  hesitated  about  coming 
into  the  support  of  Taylor.  He  could  not  follow  Van  Buren, 
in  whom  he  had  no  faith  and  against  whom  he  had  made  his 
first  great  battle  as  an  editor  in  1840.  Finally,  seeing  that  the 
choice  was  between  Cass  and  Taylor,  Greeley  decided  to 
support  the  Whig  candidate,  and  the  Whigs  of  New  York 
showed  their  appreciation  of  his  action  by  nominating  him  to 
fill  an  unexpired  term  in  Congress,  to  which  he  was  elected 
by  a  large  majority. 

*  The  contest  for  Vice-President  had  been  very  animated, 
and  for  some  time  before  the  meeting  of  the  convention  it 
seemed  probable  that  Abbott  Lawrence,  a  New  England  mil- 
lionaire, might  win  it.  He  made  the  first  attempt  that  had 
been  ventured  to  gain  a  national  nomination  by  the  money- 
in-politics  system,  but  after  Taylor  had  been  nominated  for 
President  his  friends  naturally  looked  to  some  representative 
supporter  of  Clay  to  be  placed  second  on  the  ticket,  and  Fill- 
more  led  Lawrence  on  the  ist  ballot  and  was  nominated  on 
the  2d.  The  ballots  were  as  follows: 

105 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 


1st 
Ballot. 

2d 
Ballot. 

Millard  Fillmore.     . 

115 

173 

Abbott  Lawrence.  . 

109 

83 

Scattering  

50 

4 

George  Evans,  of  Maine,  and  T.  M.  T.  McKennen, 
Andrew  Stewart,  and  John  Sergeant,  of  Pennsylvania,  all  re- 
ceived a  few  votes.  The  nomination  of  Fillmore  was  made 
unanimous  by  the  delegates  who  remained  in  the  convention. 
The  convention  adopted  no  platform. 

After  the  nomination  of  General  Taylor  for  President  an 
interesting,  and  what  would  now  be  regarded  as  a  most  lu- 
dicrous, incident  occurred  relating  to  the  letter  written  by 
Governor  Morehead,  President  of  the  Convention,  to  General 
Taylor  advising  him  of  his  nomination  for  the  Presidency. 
At  that  time  the  prepayment  of  postage  was  not  compulsory, 
and  unpaid  letters  were  charged  from  five  to  ten  times  the 
present  rate  of  letter  postage.  President  Morehead  promptly 
mailed  a  letter  to  General  Taylor  at  Baton  Rouge,  Louisi- 
ana, notifying  him  of  his  nomination,  but  several  weeks 
elapsed  without  any  response.  The  telegraph  was  then  in  its 
infancy,  and  unthought  of  as  an  agent  except  in  the  most 
urgent  emergency,  and  Governor  Morehead  finally  sent  a 
trusted  friend  to  visit  General  Taylor  and  inquire  why  his 
letter  of  acceptance  had  not  been  given.  Every  political 
crank,  as  well  as  many  others  in  the  country,  had  been  writ- 
ing letters  to  General  Taylor  on  the  subject  of  the  Presi- 
dency, very  few  of  whom  prepaid  their  letter  postage.  Old 
"  Rough  and  Ready"  became  vexed  beyond  endurance  at  the 
tax  imposed  upon  him,  and  he  gave  peremptory  orders  to  the 
postmaster  to  send  to  the  dead-letter  office  all  letters  ad- 
dressed to  him  which  were  unpaid.  Governor  Morehead,  as- 
suming that  a  letter  advising  a  man  of  his  nomination  for  the 
Presidency,  that  carried  with  it  a  reasonably  certain  election, 
was  a  matter  of  quite  as  much  interest  to  Taylor  as  to  him- 
self, had  not  prepaid  the  postage  on  his  letter,  and  it  had  gone 
to  the  dead-letter  office  in  accordance  with  Taylor's  general 
orders.  When  the  mistake  was  discovered,  the  error  was 
corrected  by  the  sending  of  a  second  letter — postage  prepaid 
— to  General  Taylor,  to  which  he  promptly  responded,  and 

106 


MILLAKD    FILLMOKE 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

the  explanation  given  that  the  original  letter  had  miscarried 
in  the  mails. 

One  of  the  interesting  episodes  of  the  convention  was  the 
arrival  in  Philadelphia,  while  the  Whig  convention  was  in 
session,  of  General  Cass  and  his  suite  of  Democratic  leaders 
of  national  fame.  Cass  was  on  his  way  home  from  Wash- 
ington, and  the  short  time  that  he  remained  here  he  liber- 
ally divided  public  attention  with  the  Whigs.  An  immense 
crowd  welcomed  Cass  at  the  Jones  Hotel,  on  Chestnut,  above 
Sixth,  and  I  there  for  the  first  time  saw  and  heard  General 
Cass,  Senator  Houston,  Senator  Allen,  Senator  Benton,  and 
Representative  Stevenson,  all  of  whom  spoke  from  the  bal- 
cony of  the  hotel,  and  were  cheered  to  the  echo.  I  recall 
Houston  as  one  of  the  handsomest  men  I  have  ever  seen,  with 
perfect  physique,  of  heroic  form,  and  a  superbly  chiselled 
face,  portrayng  all  the  strength  of  the  best  type  of  the  Ro- 
man. Cass  was  heavy  and  ponderous,  but  an  able  and  attrac- 
tive speaker,  and  I  remember  Benton  well  because  his  speech 
made  him  remembered  as  a  colossal,  perpendicular  I.  Allen 
was  then  notable  as  the  "  fog-horn,"  and  he  could  be  heard 
a  square  beyond  any  of  the  others.  A  facetious  delegate  in 
the  Whig  convention,  with  admirable  mock  gravity,  sug- 
gested that  as  the  Democratic  funeral  train  was  in  this  city 
taking  Cass's  body  home  by  the  lakes,  the  convention  should 
adjourn. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  and  as  was  greatly  feared 
by  both  the  leading  parties,  the  slavery  issue  was  at  once 
made  the  vital  one  of  the  contest.  The  Democrats  hoped 
that  as  the  contest  warmed  up  the  Van  Buren  followers 
would  acquiesce  as  they  did  in  1844,  but  what  at  first 
seemed  to  be  a  cloud  on  the  Democratic  horizon  no  bigger 
than  a  man's  hand  soon  after  developed  into  a  promised 
tempest.  The  Barnburners,  who  had  withdrawn  from  the 
Democratic  National  Convention,  called  a  State  convention, 
to  meet  at  Utica,  N.  Y.,  on  the  22d  of  June,  and  invited 
delegates  from  other  States  for  conference.  Massachusetts, 
Connecticut,  Ohio,  and  Wisconsin  were  represented,  and 
after  devoting  two  days  to  the  discussion  of  the  best  policy 
to  adopt,  Van  Buren  was  formally  nominated  for  President, 
and  Henry  Dodge,  of  Wisconsin,  for  Vice-President,  who 
declined,  and  supported  Cass.  Van  Buren's  formal  accept- 
ance of  the  nomination  followed  soon  thereafter,  and  it  was 
the  first  definite  notice  to  the  regular  Democrats  that  the 

107 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Free-Soil  Democracy  was  going  to  be  earnestly  arrayed 
against  Democratic  success. 

Although  Van  Buren  had  accepted  the  first  nomination, 
it  was  deemed  wise  as  the  campaign  progressed  to  have 
a  much  more  representative  national  body  to  make  him  the 
candidate,  and  a  largely  attended  mass  convention  met  at 
Buffalo  on  the  Qth  of  August,  over  which  Charles  Francis 
Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  presided,  and  which  had  repre- 
sentatives from  seventeen  States.  On  the  formal  ballot  for 
President,  Van  Buren  had  159  votes  to  129  for  John  P. 
Hale,  of  New  Hampshire,  who  had  already  been  nominated 
by  the  Abolitionists,  and  Charles  Francis  Adams  was  nomi- 
nated by  acclamation  for  Vice-President.  After  this  con- 
vention had  made  its  nominations  and  declared  its  platform, 
Mr.  Hale,  the  Abolition  candidate,  retired  from  the  contest, 
and  he  and  his  followers  gave  a  cordial  support  to  Van 
Buren.  The  following  was  the  Van  Buren  platform  as 
declared  by  the  Buffalo  convention : 

Whereas,  We  have  assembled  in  convention,  as  a  union  of  free- 
men, for  the  sake  of  freedom,  forgetting  all  past  political  differ- 
ences, in  common  resolve  to  maintain  the  rights  of  free  labor  against 
the  aggressions  of  the  slave  power,  and  to  secure  free  soil  for  a  free 
people;  and 

Whereas,  The  political  conventions  recently  assembled  at  Balti- 
more and  Philadelphia,  the  one  stifling  the  voice  of  a  great  con- 
stituency, entitled  to  be  heard  in  its  deliberations,  and  the  other 
abandoning  its  distinctive  principles  for  mere  availability,  have  dis- 
solved the  national  party  organizations  heretofore  existing  by  nom- 
inating for  the  chief  magistracy  of  the  United  States,  under  the 
slaveholding  dictation,  candidates,  neither  of  whom  can  be  supported 
by  the  opponents  of  slavery  extension  without  a  sacrifice  of  con- 
sistency, duty,  and  self-respect;  and 

Whereas,  These  nominations  so  made  furnish  the  occasion  and 
demonstrate  the  necessity  of  the  union  of  the  people  under  the 
banner  of  free  democracy,  in  a  solemn  and  formal  declaration  of 
their  independence  of  the  slave  power,  and  of  their  fixed  determina- 
tion to  rescue  the  Federal  Government  from  its  control : 

Resolved,  Therefore,  that  we,  the  people  here  assembled,  remem- 
bering the  example  of  our  fathers  in  the  days  of  the  first  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  putting  our  trust  in  God  for  the  triumph  of 
pur  cause,  and  invoking  His  guidance  in  our  endeavors  to  advance 
it,  do  now  plant  ourselves  upon  the  national  platform  of  freedom,  in 
opposition  to  the  sectional  platform  of  slavery. 

Resolved,  That  slavery  in  the  several  States  of  this  Union  which 
recognize  its  existence  depends  upon  State  laws  alone,  which  cannot 
be  repealed  or  modified  by  the  Federal  Government,  and  for  which 
laws  that  Government  is  not  responsible.  We  therefore  propose  no 
interference  by  Congress  with  slavery  within  the  limits  of  any 
State. 

108 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

Resolved,  That  the  proviso  of  Jefferson,  to  prohibit  the  existence 
of  slavery  after  1800  in  all  the  Territories  of  the  United  States, 
southern  and  northern;  the  votes  of  six  States  and  sixteen  dele- 
gates, in  the  Congress  of  1784  for  the  proviso,  to  three  States  and 
seven  delegates  against  it ;  the  actual  exclusion  of  slavery  from  the 
Northwestern  Territory  by  the  ordinance  of  1787,  unanimously 
adopted  by  the  States  in  Congress;  and  the  entire  history  of  that 
period — clearly  show  that  it  was  the  settled  policy  of  the  nation  not 
to  extend,  nationalize,  or  encourage,  but  to  limit,  localize,  and  dis- 
courage slavery;  and  to  this  policy,  which  should  never  have  been 
departed  from,  the  Government  ought  to  return. 

Resolved,  That  our  fathers  ordained  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  in  order,  among  other  great  national  objects,  to  establish 
justice,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of 
liberty ;  but  expressly  denied  to  the  Federal  Government,  which  they 
created,  all  constitutional  power  to  deprive  any  person  of  life,  lib- 
erty, or  property,  without  due  legal  process. 

Resolved,  That,  in  the  judgment  of  this  convention,  Congress  has 
no  more  power  to  make  a  slave  than  to  make  a  king;  no  more 
power  to  institute  or  establish  slavery  than  to  institute  or  establish 
a  monarchy.  No  such  power  can  be  found  among  those  specifically 
conferred  by  the  Constitution,  or  derived  by  any  just  implication 
from  them. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Federal  Government  to  relieve 
itself  from  all  responsibilty  for  the  existence  or  continuance  of 
slavery  wherever  the  Government  possesses  constitutional  authority 
to  legislate  on  that  subject,  and  is  thus  responsible  for  its  existence. 

Resolved,  That  the  true  and,  in  the  judgment  of  this  convention, 
the  only  safe  means  of  preventing  the  extension  of  slavery  into  ter- 
ritory now  free  is  to  prohibit  its  existence  in  all  such  territory  by 
an  act  of  Congress. 

Resolved,  That  we  accept  the  issue  which  the  slave  power  has 
forced  upon  us ;  and  to  their  demand  for  more  Slave  States  and 
more  slave  territory,  our  calm  but  final  answer  is,  no  more  Slave 
States  and  no  more  slave  territory.  Let  the  soil  of  our  extensive  do- 
mains be  ever  kept  free  for  the  hardy  pioneers  of  our  own  land,  and 
the  oppressed  and  banished  of  other  lands,  seeking  homes  of  com- 
fort and  fields  of  enterprise  in  the  New  World. 

Resolved,  That  the  bill  lately  reported  by  the  committee  of  eight 
in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  was  no  compromise,  but  an  ab- 
solute surrender  of  the  rights  of  the  non-slaveholders  of  all  the 
States;  and  while  we  rejoice  to  know  that  a  measure  which,  while 
opening  the  door  for  the  introduction  of  slavery  into  territories  now 
free,  would  also  have  opened  the  door  to  litigation  and  strife  among 
the  future  inhabitants  thereof,  to  the  ruin  of  their  peace  and  pros- 
perity, was  defeated  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  its  passage, 
in  hot  haste,  by  a  majority  embracing  several  Senators  who  voted 
in  open  violation  of  the  known  will  of  their  constituents,  should 
warn  the  people  to  see  to  it  that  their  representatives  be  not  suf- 
fered to  betray  them.  There  must  be  no  more  compromises  with 
slavery ;  if  made,  they  must  be  repealed. 

Resolved,  That  we  demand  freedom  and  established  institutions/ 
for  our  brethren  in  Oregon,  now  exposed  to  hardships,  peril,  and 
massacre  by  the  reckless  hostility  of  the  slave  power  to  the  estab- 

109 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

lishment  of  free  government  for  free  territory,  and  not  only  for 
them,  but  for  our  new  brethren  in  New  Mexico  and  California. 

And  whereas,  It  is  due  not  only  to  this  occasion,  but  to  the  whole 
people  of  the  United  States,  that  we  should  declare  ourselves  on 
certain  other  questions  of  national  policy ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  we  demand  cheap  postage  for  the  people ;  a  re- 
trenchment of  the  expenses  and  patronage  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment ;  the  abolition  of  all  unnecessary  offices  and  salaries ;  and  the 
election  by  the  people  of  all  civil  officers  in  the  service  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, so  far  as  the  same  may  be  practicable. 

Resolved,  That  river  and  harbor  improvements,  whenever  de- 
manded by  the  safety  and  convenience  of  commerce  with  foreign 
nations,  or  among  the  several  States,  are  objects  of  national  con- 
cern ;  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress,  in  the  exercise  of  its  con- 
stitutional powers,  to  provide  therefor. 

Resolved,  That  the  free  grant  to  actual  settlers,  in  consideration  of 
the  expenses  they  incur  in  making  settlements  in  the  wilderness, 
which  are  usually  fully  equal  to  their  actual  cost,  and  of  the  public 
benefits  resulting  therefrom,  of  reasonable  portions  of  the  public 
lands,  under  suitable  limitations,  is  a  wise  and  just  measure  of  public 
policy  which  will  promote,  in  various  ways,  the  interests  of  all  the 
States  of  this  Union ;  and  we  therefore  recommend  it  to  the  favor- 
able consideration  of  the  American  people. 

Resolved,  That  the  obligations  of  honor  and  patriotism  require 
the  earliest  practicable  payment  of  the  national  debt ;  and  we  are, 
therefore,  in  favor  of  such  a  tariff  of  duties  as  will  raise  revenue 
adequate  to  defray  the  necessary  expenses  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment, and  to  pay  annual  instalments  of  our  debt,  and  the  interest 
thereon. 

Resolved,  That  we  inscribe  on  our  banner,  "  Free  Soil,  Free 
Speech,  Free  Labor  and  Free  Men,"  and  under  it  will  fight  on,  and 
fight  ever,  until  a  triumphant  victory  shall  reward  our  exertions. 

The  Presidential  contest  of  1848  for  the  first  time  pre- 
sented the  Native  American  party  in  the  field  with  national 
candidates.  It  had  its  origin  chiefly  from  the  Philadelphia 
riots  of  1844,  resulting  from  a  bitter  feud  between  the 
Catholics  and  Protestants  in  the  uptown  river  districts  of 
Philadelphia.  The  organization  of  the  Native  American 
party  immediately  followed  in  Philadelphia,  with  opposition 
to  Catholics  and  foreigners  as  its  faith,  and  for  nearly  a 
decade  it  held  the  balance  of  power  between  the  Whigs  and 
Democrats  in  that  city,  and  several  times  elected  members 
of  Congress.  A  like  party  was  organized  in  New  York, 
and  attained  some  local  success  in  that  city.  The  national 
convention  of  the  Native  Americans  was  held  in  Philadelphia 
in  September,  1847,  and  while  it  did  not  make  a  formal 
nomination,  it  recommended  General  Taylor  for  President 
and  chose  Henry  A.  S.  Dearborn,  of  Massachusetts,  for 

no 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

Vice-President.  The  party  was  unknown  and  unfelt  in  the 
contest,  although  it  aided  somewhat  in  giving  the  electoral 
vote  of  Pennsylvania  to  Taylor. 

In  November,  1847,  tne  Liberty  party,  that  had  twice 
nominated  and  ran  Birney  as  its  candidate  for  President, 
met  at  New  York  and  nominated  John  P.  Hale,  of  New 
Hampshire,  for  President,  and  Leicester  King,  of  Ohio,  for 
Vice-President.  When  the  Free-Soil  Democracy  developed 
huge  proportions  and  nominated  Van  Buren,the  old  Abolition 
party  was  entirely  absorbed  in  the  Free-Soil  organization. 
The  Liberty  League,  made  up  of  a  small  number  of  the  more 
radical  Abolitionists,  held  a  meeting  at  Rochester  on  the 
2d  of  June,  1848,  and  nominated  Gerrit  Smith,  of  New 
York,  for  President,  and  Rev.  Charles  E.  Foote,  of  Michi- 
gan, for  Vice-President ;  and  what  was  called  the  Industrial 
Congress,  made  up  of  a  handful  of  labor  agitators,  met  at 
Philadelphia  on  the  I3th  of  June,  1848,  and  nominated 
Gerrit  Smith  for  President  and  William  S.  Waitt,  of  Illi- 
nois, for  Vice-President.  Neither  the  Hale  Abolition  party, 
the  Liberty  League  Abolition  party,  nor  the  Industrial  Con- 
gress party  presented  any  electoral  tickets  of  which  I  have 
been  able  to  find  any  record.  The  canvass  was  a  very  earnest 
one,  and  the  Whigs  steadily  grew  in  confidence  as  it  pro- 
gressed, while  the  Democrats  were  threatened  on  every  side 
with  disaster. 

Pennsylvania  broke  from  her  Democratic  moorings  at 
the  October  election,  when  William  F.  Johnson,  Whig,  was 
elected  Governor  by  305  majority,  and  generally  the  pre- 
liminary elections  were  favorable  to  the  Whigs.  There 
were  then  thirty  States,  as  Florida  had  come  in  March  3, 
1845  »  Texas,  December  29,  1845 ;  Iowa,  December  28,  1846, 
and  Wisconsin,  May  29,  1848,  and  the  Presidential  electors 
were  then  for  the  first  time  all  chosen  on  the  same  day,  with 
the  single  exception  of  Massachusetts.  Van  Buren  did  not 
carry  a  State,  but  he  gave  Taylor  an  easy  triumph  by  the 
large  Democratic  defection  he  caused  in  the  pivotal  States. 
The  following  table  exhibits  the  popular  and  electoral  votes 
as  declared  by  Congress: 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


STATES. 

POPULAR  VOTE. 

ELECTORS. 

Zachary  Taylor, 
Whig. 

Lewis  Cass, 
Democrat. 

Martin  Van  Buren, 
Free  Soil. 

Total  vote. 

| 

>! 

u 

Alo.ba.ma. 

30,482 
7,588 
30,314 
6,421 
3,116 
47,544 
53,047 
69,907 
11,084 
67,141 
18,217 
35,125 
37,702 
61,072 
23,940 
25,922 
32,671 
14,781 
40,015 
218,603 
43,550 
138,360 
185,513 
6,779 

31,363 
9,300 
27,046 
5,898 
1,847 
44,802 
56,300 
74,745 
12,093 
49,720 
15,370 
39,880 
34,528 
35,281 
30,687 
26,537 
40,077 
27,763 
36,901 
114,318 
34,869 
154,775 
171,176 
3,646 

61,845 
16,888 
62,365 
12,399 
4,963 
92,346 
125,121 
152,752 
24,303 
116,861 
33,587 
87,101 
72,355 
134,411 
65,016 
52,459 
72,748 
50,104 
77,745 
453,431 
78,419 
328,489 
367,952 
11,155 

9 
3 

Arkansas 

Connecticut.  . 

5,005 
80 

6 
3 
3 
10 

12 
6 

8 
12 

Delaware  

Florida 

Georgia 

Illinois  

15,775 
8,100 
1,126 

9 

12 
4 

Indiana  

Iowa 

Kentucky 

TvOiiisiana, 

Maine          

12,096 
125 
38,058 
10,389 

9 

5 
6 

7 
6 

Maryland  

Massachusetts  
Michigan 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

New  Hampshire.  .  . 
New  Jersey 

7,560 
829 
120,510 

7 
36 
11 

26 

4 

New  York.     .. 

North  Carolina  
Ohio  

35,354 
11,263 
730 

23 
9 

Pennsylvania  

Rhode  Island  

South  Carolina*... 
Tennessee 

64,705 
4,509 
23,122 
45,124 
13,747 

58,419 
10,668 
10,948 
46,586 
15,001 

123,124 
15,177 
47,907 
91,719 
39,166 

13 

Texas 

4 

17 
4 

"l27~ 

Vermont     .       ... 

13,837 
9 

10,418 

6 

Virginia  

Wisconsin  

Total  

1,360,101 

1,220,544 

291,263 

2,871,908 

163 

*  The  electors  were  chosen  by  the  legislature. 

All  parties  made  earnest  efforts  to  control  the  popular 
branch  of  Congress,  and  national  interest  naturally  centred 
in  the  Wilmot  district  of  Pennsylvania,  as  he  was  the  author 
of  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  that  was  the  fountain  of  the  slavery 


112 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

dispute.  He  had  been  twice  elected  to  Congress  in  what  was 
then  a  strong  Democratic  district,  composed  of  Bradford, 
Susquehanna,  and  Tioga,  but  which  have  been  among  the 
strongest  Republican  counties  in  the  State  since  the  organi- 
zation of  that  party.  The  district  had  given  over  2000 
majority  for  Polk  against  Clay,  and  although  Wilmot  was 
the  only  member  of  Congress  from  Pennsylvania  who  voted 
for  the  tariff  of  1846,  he  was  re-elected  in  the  fall  of  that 
year  by  a  decided  majority. 

When  Van  Buren  was  nominated,  Wilmot  openly  declared 
himself  as  a  Free-Soil  Democrat,  but  he  received  the  regular 
Democratic  nomination  for  Congress  in  his  district.  The 
Cass  pro-slavery  Democrats  bolted  and  nominated  Jonah 
Brewster  as  a  Simon-pure  Democrat,  and  the  Whigs  nomi- 
nated Henry  W.  Tracy,  confidently  expecting  to  elect  him. 
Wilmot  was  triumphantly  elected,  receiving  8597  votes  to 
4795  f°r  Tracy,  Whig,  and  922  for  Brewster,  Cass  Democrat. 
He  also  nearly  evenly  divided  the  Democratic  vote  of 
Bradford  and  Tioga  between  Cass  and  Van  Buren,  giving 
Taylor  a  large  plurality  over  Cass  in  the  district. 

While  the  Wilmot  Free-Soil  Democrats  bolted  on  the 
Democratic  national  ticket,  they  generally  supported  Morris 
Longstreth,  the  Democratic  candidate  for  Governor,  who 
was  defeated  by  Johnson  in  October  by  305  majority.  The 
re-election  of  Wilmot  H  one  of  the  strong  Democratic 
districts  of  Pennsylvania  greatly  strengthened  the  anti- 
slavery  cause  throughout  the  country.  He  and  his  followers 
fell  back  into  the  regular  Democratic  line  in  1852  in  support 
of  Pierce,  and  they  finally  severed  their  relations  with  the 
Democratic  party  in  1854,  provoked  by  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise,  and  in  1856  they  carried  the  Northern 
counties  of  the  State  by  large  majorities  for  Fremont. 

Cass  carried  every  State  west  of  the  Pennsylvania  line, 
including  Ohio,  where  the  antislavery  sentiment  0f  the 
Western  Reserve  was  unwilling  to  accept  a  large  slaveholder 
as  a  candidate  for  President.  Corwin,  the  most  brilliant  and 
impressive  of  the  stump-speakers  of  that  day,  made  desper- 
ate efforts  to  save  the  State,  but  Van  Buren  received  over 
35,000  votes,  and  Cass  won  the  electors  by  a  plurality  of 
over  16,000.  I  once  heard  Corwin  in  his  inimitable  way  tell 
the  story  of  that  campaign.  The  people  of  Ohio  in  that 
day  were  taught  their  politics  by  mass-meetings,  and  any 
one  of  the  audience  was  entirely  at  liberty  to  interrogate 

113 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

the  speaker.  Corwin,  in  his  plausible  and  fascinating  way, 
was  trying  to  explain  how  the  antislavery  cause  would  be 
best  served  by  electing  a  slaveholder  President,  when  a  tall, 
lank  countryman,  sitting  on  the  fence,  put  a  very  pointed 
question  to  him,  that  he  felt  unable  to  answer.  He  tried  to 
meet  it  in  a  humorous  way,  but  only  aroused  his  interrogator 
to  make  a  more  pointed  inquiry  of  him,  that  Corwin  could 
not  answer.  He  was  one  of  the  few  orators  who  could 
convulse  an  audience  with  his  superb  humor,  and  his  facial 
expression  was  at  times  even  more  mirth  provoking  than  his 
language.  The  question  involved  the  negro  issue,  and  Cor- 
win had  an  unusually  swarthy  complexion,  and  he  unhorsed 
his  inquirer  by  saying  to  his  audience  with  an  expression 
that  powerfully  accentuated  his  remark :  "  I  submit,  fellow- 
citizens,  whether  it  is  proper  to  put  such  a  question  to  a  man 
of  my  complexion,"  and  the  dispute  ended  in  boisterous 
laughter  and  cheers  for  Corwin.  The  Whigs  won  easy  vic- 
tories in  all  the  debatable  States  of  the  South ;  and  General 
Taylor  came  to  the  Presidency  knowing  less  about  how  his 
election  had  been  accomplished  than  any  man  who  had  ever 
been  called  to  the  Chief  Magistracy  of  the  Republic.  Thus 
was  Martin  Van  Buren  avenged  for  the  Southern  betrayal 
of  1844. 


FUANKL13 


THE  PIERCE-SCOTT  CONTEST 

1852 


WHILE  the  Whigs  were  apprehensive  as  to  General  Tay- 
lor's fidelity  to  an  aggressive  Whig  policy  both  before  and 
after  his  election,  when  he  came  to  the  selection  of  his  Cab- 
inet he  quieted  all  doubts  by  appointing  a  positive  Whig 
Cabinet,  with  John  M.  Clayton,  one  of  the  ablest  of  the  Whig 
leaders  of  that  day  and  an  eminently  practical  politician,  to 
the  Premiership.  Taylor  had  little  fitness  for  responsible 
civil  duties,  and  charged  his  Cabinet,  that  was  made  up  of 
eminently  able  men,  with  the  administration  of  their  differ- 
ent departments.  The  slavery  question  was  uppermost  in 
the  politics  of  the  day,  and  the  Taylor  Cabinet  finally  decided 
upon  a  policy  to  solve  the  delicate  problem  by  admitting  none 
of  the  newly  acquired  Mexican  possessions  as  Territories, 
but  leaving  the  question  of  slavery  to  be  determined  by  them- 
selves when  they  came  to  admission  as  States. 

This  policy  was  antagonized  by  the  ultra  antislavery  peo- 
ple, who  wanted  the  distinct  prohibition  of  slavery  in  Terri- 
torial organizations,  and  also  by  the  extreme  slavery  Whigs, 
who  desired  them  admitted  as  Territories  without  any  ex- 
pression on  slavery,  believing  that  slaves  could  be  taken  into 
any  Territory  south  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  line  unless 
prohibited  by  the  organic  law.  Clay  had  returned  to  the 
Senate,  and  being  neither  more  nor  less  than  human,  he  had 
little  inclination  to  harmonize  with  an  accidental  Whig  Pres- 
ident who  filled  the  position  to  which  Clay  felt  he  was  justly 
entitled.  As  opposed  to  the  policy  of  the  President,  Clay 
came  in  as  pacificator  and  proposed  what  then  became 
known,  and  what  have  since  been  known  as  the  Compromise 
Measures  of  1850.  It  is  doubtful  whether  either  the  admin- 
istration or  the  Clay  Compromise  policy  could  have  been  suc- 
cessful had  the  President  lived.  Certainly  the  Compromise 
bill  would  have  failed,  but  it  is  uncertain  whether  the  ad- 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

ministration  could  have  wielded  sufficient  power  to  carry  its 
policy  through  Congress.  Its  policy  was  a  negative  one, 
postponing  the  slave  issue  in  the  new  acquisitions  until  the 
people  could  act  in  their  sovereign  capacity  in  the  creation 
of  States. 

President  Taylor  died  July  9,  1850,  and  Millard  Fillmore 
became  President  by  virtue  of  his  office  as  Vice-President. 
Taylor's  death  changed  the  political  purposes  of  the  admin- 
istration in  the  earnest  struggle  then  in  Congress  to  meet 
the  question  of  slavery  in  the  newly  acquired  territory.  Fill- 
more,  like  nearly  all  Vice-Presidents,  was  not  in  harmony 
with  the  President,  and  when  he  became  President  himself 
he  reversed  the  policy  of  the  administration. 

It  was  on  this  issue  that  Webster  wrecked  himself.  He 
was  in  the  confidence  of  the  Taylor  administration,  and  was 
chosen  to  be  the  champion  of  its  policy  for  meeting  the  slav- 
ery issue  in  the  Territories.  He  personally  conferred  with 
the  Cabinet  forty-eight  hours  before  he  delivered  his  mem- 
orable seventh-of-March  speech,  in  which  he  cast  his  lot  with 
Clay  and  the  pro-slavery  wing  of  the  party,  and  neither  the 
President  nor  any  Cabinet  officer  had  any  notice  of  his  pur- 
pose to  change  until  they  were  astounded  by  hearing  the 
views  he  expressed  in  his  speech.  William  M.  Meredith,  of 
Philadelphia,  was  then  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  he 
was  so  much  offended  by  what  he  regarded  as  Webster's 
perfidy  that  he  never  spoke  to  him  thereafter. 

Fillmore  was  the  second  Vice-President  who  had  suc- 
ceeded to  the  Presidency  by  the  death  of  the  President,  and, 
like  Tyler,  he  reversed  the  policy  of  the  party,  and  estranged 
the  Whigs  of  the  North  very  generally  from  him.  After  he 
became  President  the  Compromise  Measures  were  revived, 
and  Clay  made  the  last  great  battle  of  his  life  as  pacificator. 
With  the  power  of  the  administration  added,  the  Clay  Com- 
promise Measures  passed  both  branches  of  Congress,  and 
were  promptly  approved  by  the  President.  They  declared, 
first,  against  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia ;  second,  in  favor  of  the  admission  of  California  as  a 
Free  State;  third,  in  favor  of  a  severely  stringent  Fugitive 
Slave  law;  fourth,  for  the  payment  to  Texas  of  $10,000,000 
for  yielding  her  claims  to  New  Mexico,  and  fifth,  in  favor  of 
the  admission  of  Utah  and  New  Mexico  as  Territories  with- 
out restrictions  as  to  slavery. 

The  passage  of  the  Compromise    Measures    practically 

1*6 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


united  the  Democratic  party,  as  the  friends  of  slavery  ex- 
tension had  won  a  substantial  triumph,  and  the  Democrats 
of  the  North  were  generally  in  harmony  with  that  policy,  but 
it  greatly  weakened  the  Whigs  in  the  North  without 
strengthening  them  in  the  South,  and  Fillmore,  and  Web- 
ster, then  Secretary  of  State,  became  rival  candidates  for  the 
Whig  nomination,  while  the  anti-Compromise  or  antislavery 
element  of  the  Whigs  united  on  General  Scott.  / 

When  the  Democratic  National  Convention  met  at  Balti-  V 
more,  June  I,  1852,  the  leaders  were  entirely  confident  of 
electing  their  candidates.  John  W.  Davis,  of  Indiana,  was 
made  President,  and  the  two-thirds  rule  reaffirmed.  The 
sessions  of  the  convention  were  protracted,  lasting  six  days, 
but  there  was  little  angry  dispute  as  to  either  candidates  or 
measures.  There  were  49  ballots  for  President,  Cass  and 
Buchanan  being  the  leading  competitors  at  the  start.  The 
Virginia  delegation,  that  was  always  potential  in  Democratic 
conventions,  had  become  weary  of  the  hopeless  contest  be- 
tween the  candidates,  and  on  the  35th  ballot  cast  a  solid 
vote  for  Franklin  Pierce,  of  New  Hampshire,  whose  name 
had  not  up  to  that  time  been  before  the  convention.  The 
friends  of  Cass  made  an  earnest  rally,  but  were  unable  to 
concentrate  sufficient  strength  to  approach  the  two-thirds 
vote,  and  Marcy  finally  loomed  up  as  the  leading  competitor 
of  Pierce.  The  following  table  gives  the  detail  vote  on  each 
ballot : 


BALLOTS. 

1 

U 

Buchanan. 

Douglas. 

i 

1 

Butler. 

Houston. 

t 

•o 

I 

"I 

Dickinson. 

8  : 

V   -• 

E 

1 

116 

93 

20 

27 

2 

8 

3 

13 

_ 

2  

118 

95 

23 

27 

6 

3 

13 



3  

119 

94 

21 

26 

7 

3 

13 



4 

115 

89 

31 

25 

7 

3 

13 



5 

114 

88 

34 

26 

8 

3 

13 



6.  .  .       

114 

88 

34 

26 

8 

3 

13 

7 

113 

88 

34 

26 

9 

3 

13 



8  

113 

88 

34 

26 

9 

3 

13 



9   

112 

87 

39 

*7 

8 

13 



10 

111 

86 

40 

27 

8 

14 



11 

101 

87 

50 

27 

8 

13 

12   

98 

88 

51 

27 

9 



13 



13 

98 

88 

51 

26 

10 

13 



14  

99 

87 

51 

26 

10 



13 



15  

99 

87 

51 

26 

10 



13 



16 

99 

87 

51 

26 

10 

13 

17  

99 

87 

50 

26 

11 



13 



18     

96 

85 

56 

25 

11 

13 

117 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


BALLOTS. 

i 

a 
O 

Buchanan. 

Douglas. 

>, 
| 

1 

Butler. 

Houston. 

• 

to 

0) 

J 

Dickinson. 

Pierce. 

19 

89 

85 

63 

26 

1 

10 

13 

_ 

20 

81 

92 

64 

26 

1 

10 

13 



21  

60 

102 

64 

26 

13 

9 



13 

22 

53 

104 

77 

26 

15 

9 

13 



23  

37 

103 

78 

26 

19 

11 



13 



24  

33 

103 

80 

26 

23 

9 



13 



25 

34 

101 

81 

26 

24 

9 

13 



26  

33 

101 

80 

26 

24 

10 

_^ 

13 



27  

32 

98 

85 

26 

24 

9 

13 



28 

28 

96 

88 

26 

25 

11 

13 



29  

27 

93 

91 

26 

25 

12 

13 



30  

33 

91 

92 

26 

20 

12 

13 

31 

64 

79 

92 

26 

16 

10 

32  

98 

74 

80 

26 

1 

8 



33 

123 

72 

60 

25 

2 

6 

34  

130 

49 

53 

23 

1 

5 



_ 

1 



35  

131 

39 

52 

44 

1 

5 

15 

36 

122 

28 

43 

58 

5 

30 

37  

120 

28 

37 

70 

5 

29 

38.  ... 

107' 

28 

33 

84 

5 

29 

39 

106 

28 

33 

85 

5 

29 

40  .. 

106 

27 

33 

85 

5 

29 

41 

107 

27 

33 

85 

5 

29 

42  

101 

27 

33 

91 

5 

29 

43    

101 

27 

33 

91 

5 

29 

44  

101 

27 

33 

91 

5 

29 

45  

96 

27 

32 

97 

5 

29 

46 

78 

28 

32 

97 

5 

44 

47  

75 

28 

33 

95 

5 

49 

48  

73 

28 

33 

90 

6 

55 

49 

2 

2 

2 

282 

Two  ballots  were  had  for  Vice-President,  the  first  result- 
ing as  follows : 


Wm.  R.  King,  Ala 126 

Gideon  J.  Pillow,  Tenn 25 

D.  R.  Atchison,  Mo 25 

T.  J.  Rusk,  Texas 12 

Jefferson  Davis,  Miss 2 


Wm.  O.  Butler,  Ky 27 

Robert  Strange,  N.  C 23 

S.  U.  Downs,  La 30 

T.  B.  Weller,  Cal 28 

Howell  Cobb,  Ga 2 


The  2d  ballot  ended  with  the  unanimous  nomination 
of  Mr.  King. 

The  party  platform  was  precisely  that  of  1848,  all  em- 
bodied in  full  text,  with  two  new  resolutions  added  on  the 
subject  of  slavery  and  additional  resolutions  relating  to 
other  national  issues.  The  Democratic  platform  of  1852, 
therefore,  embraced  all  the  previous  Democratic  platforms 
with  the  following  added : 

118 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

Resolved,  That  the  foregoing  proposition  covers,  and  is  intended 
to  embrace,  the  whole  subject  of  slavery  agitated  in  Congress;  and 
therefore  the  Democratic  party  of  the  Union,  standing  on  this  na- 
tional platform,  will  abide  by  and  adhere  to  a  faithful  execution 
of  the  acts  known  as  the  "  Compromise"  Measures  settled  by  the 
last  Congress — the  act  for  reclaiming  fugitives  from  service  or 
labor  included;  which  act,  being  designed  to  carry  out  an  express 
provision  of  the  Constitution,  cannot  with  fidelity  thereto  be  re- 
pealed, nor  so  changed  as  to  destroy  or  impair  its  efficiency. 

Resolved,  That  the  Democratic  party  will  resist  all  attempts  at 
renewing  in  Congress,  or  out  of  it,  the  agitation  of  the  slavery  ques- 
tion, under  whatever  shape  or  color  the  attempt  may  be  made. 

Then  follow  the  resolutions  in  former  platforms  respect- 
ing the  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  land  sales,  that  re- 
specting the  veto  power,  and  these  additions : 

Resolved,  That  the  Democratic  party  will  faithfully  abide  by  and 
uphold  the  principles  laid  down  in  the  Kentucky  and  Virginia  reso- 
lutions of  1792  and  1798,  and  in  the  report  of  Mr.  Madison  to  the 
Virginia  Legislature  in  1799;  that  it  adopts  those  principles  as  con- 
stituting one  of  the  main  foundations  of  its  political  creed,  and  is 
resolved  to  carry  them  out  in  their  obvious  meaning  and  import. 

Resolved,  That  the  war  with  Mexico,  upon  all  the  principles  of 
patriotism  and  the  law  of  nations,  was  a  just  and  necessary  war  on 
our  part  in  which  no  American  citizen  should  have  shown  himself 
opposed  to  his  country,  and  neither  morally  nor  physically,  by  word 
or  deed,  given  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemy. 

Resolved,  That  we  rejoice  at  the  restoration  of  friendly  relations 
with  our  sister  republic  of  Mexico,  and  earnestly  desire  for  her  all 
the  blessings  and  prosperity  which  we  enjoy  under  republican  insti- 
tutions, and  we  congratulate  the  American  people  on  the  results  of 
that  war,  which  have  so  manifestly  justified  the  policy  and  conduct 
of  the  Democratic  party,  and  insured  to  the  United  States  indem- 
nity for  the  past  and  security  for  the  future. 

Resolved,  That,  in  view  of  the  condition  of  popular  institutions 
in  the  Old  World,  a  high  and  sacred  duty  is  devolved,  with  in- 
creased responsibility,  upon  the  Democracy  of  this  country,  as  the 
party  of  the  people,  to  uphold  and  maintain  the  rights  of  every  State, 
and  thereby  the  union  of  States,  and  to  sustain  and  advance  among 
them  constitutional  liberty,  by  continuing  to  resist  all  monopolies 
and  exclusive  legislation  for  the  benefit  of  the  few  at  the  expense 
of  the  many,  and  by  a  vigilant  and  constant  adherence  to  those 
principles  and  compromises  of  the  Constitution  which  are  broad 
enough  and  strong  enough  to  embrace  and  uphold  the  Union  as  it 
is,  and  the  Union  as  it  should  be,  in  the  full  expansion  of  the  ener- 
gies and  capacity  of  this  great  and  progressive  people. 

The  nomination  of  Pierce  was  received  very  generally  by 
the  Democrats  with  great  enthusiasm.  The  spirit  of  young 

119 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Democracy  had  grown  up  in  the  party  and  become  very  for- 
midable. The  Democratic  Review,  the  monthly  organ  of 
Democracy,  had  been  reorganized  with  an  able  and  most 
aggressive  staff  devoted  to  the  overthrow  of  "  old  fogyism" 
in  the  party,  and  when  Pierce  was  nominated  the  boys  who 
do  the  shouting  were  almost  wholly  in  sympathy  with  the 
young  Democracy,  and  the  old-timers  had  to  fall  in  the  rear 
of  the  procession.  With  the  Democratic  party  united  on 
candidates  who  were  free  from  factional  complication,  and 
with  the  Compromise  Measures,  on  which  they  could  unite 
both  the  North  and  South,  they  started  in  the  contest  with 
every  advantage  and  maintained  it  until  election  day,  when 

Jthe  Whig  party  suffered  its  Waterloo. 
The  Whig  convention  met  in  Baltimore  on  the  i6th  of 
June  with  every  State  represented,  and  John  G.  Chapman, 
of  Maryland,  was  made  the  presiding  officer.  The  Southern 
delegates  fortified  themselves  before  the  meeting  of  the 
convention  by  a  caucus  declaration  of  the  party  platform, 
*  and  it  was  an  open  secret  that  if  the  convention  accepted  the 
platform,  enough  Southern  men  would  support  Scott  to 
give  him  the  nomination.  They  knew  that  Fillmore  could 
not  be  elected,  and  that  Webster  was  even  weaker  than 
Fillmore,  and  they  were  willing  to  accept  Scott,  who  was 
the  candidate  of  the  antislavery  element  of  the  party,  if 
the  Compromise  Measures  were  squarely  affirmed  by  the 
party  convention,  while  Scott  was  willing  to  accept  the 
nomination  with  any  platform  the  convention  might  formu- 
late. Fillmore  had  carried  the  Compromise  Measures  and 
forced  the  Whigs  to  accept  them  in  the  party  platform,  but 
the  insincerity  of  that  expression  was  manifested  by  the 
refusal  to  nominate  Fillmore,  and  by  the  nomination  of 
Scott,  who  represented  the  anti-Compromise  Whigs  of  the 
country.  There  were  53  ballots  for  President,  but  during 
the  long  struggle  there  was  little  exhibition  of  ill-temper. 
Scott  started  with  131  to  133  for  Fillmore  and  29  for 
Webster,  and  ended  with  159  for  Scott  to  112  for  Fillmore 
and  21  for  Webster.  The  following  table  presents  the  ballots 
in  detail : 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


BALLOTS. 

.j 

Fillmore. 

Webster. 

BALLOTS. 

? 

o 

Cfl 

Fillmore. 

Webster. 

1 

1 

131 
133 
133 
134 
130 
133 
131 
133 
133 
135 
134 
134 
134 
133 
133 
135 
132 
132 
132 
132 
133 
132 
132 
133 
133 
134 
134 

133 
131 
131 
130 
133 
131 
133 
131 
133 
130 
131 
130 
130 
130 
130 
129 
131 
131 
131 
131 
131 
130 
130 
129 
128 
128 
128 

29 

29 
29 
29 
30 
29 
28 
28 
29 
29 
28 
28 
28 
29 
29 
28 
29 
28 
29 
29 
28 
30 
30 
30 
31 
30 
30 

28.. 

134 
134 
134 
134 
134 
134 
134 
134 
136 
133 
136 
134 
132 
132 
134 
134 
133 
133 
134 
135 
137 
139 
142 
142 
146 
159 

choos 

128 
128 
128 
128 
128 
128 
126 
128 
127 
128 
127 
128 
129 
129 
128 
128 
129 
127 
127 
129 
124 
122 
122 
120 
119 
112 

2,147 

30 
30 
29 
30 
30 
29 
28 
28 
28 
28 
29 
30 
32 
32 
30 
30 
30 
32 
31 
29 
30 
30 
28 
29 
27 
21 

2       

29  

3       

30  

4 

31      

5 

32   

6 

33  

7 

34  

8       ... 

35  

9 

36 

10 

37  

11 

38   .     .... 

13 

39  

13 

40  

14       ... 

41  

15   

42  

16  

43  

17 

44  

18 

45  

19 

46  

20 

47  

21   .     

48  

22  

49  

23 

50      

24 

51  

25 

52  

26   .. 

53  

27  

Necessary  to 

The  nomination  of  Scott  was  made  unanimous,  and  Will- 
iam A.  Graham,  of  North  Carolina,  who  was  Secretary  of 
the  Navy  under  the  Fillmore  administration,  was  given  a 
unanimous  nomination  for  Vice-President  on  the  2d  bal- 
lot. The  following  platform  was  adopted  without  opposi- 
tion, excepting  as  to  the  eighth  and  last,  affirming  the  new 
and  stringent  Fugitive  Slave  law.  After  an  earnest  debate 
it  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  212  to  70.  Many  of  the  friends 
of  General  Scott  voted  for  that  resolution  from  considera- 
tions of  expediency.  General  Scott  in  his  letter  of  acceptance 
broadly  affirmed  the  platform  in  its  entirety. 

The  Whigs  of  the  United  States,  in  convention  assembled,  ad- 
hering to  the  great  conservative  principles  by  which  they  are  con- 
trolled and  governed,  and  now,  as  ever,  relying  upon  the  intelli- 


121 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

gence  of  the  American  people,  with  an  abiding  confidence  in  their 
capacity  for  self-government,  and  their  devotion  to  the  Constitution 
and  the  Union,  do  proclaim  the  following  as  the  political  senti- 
ments and  determination  for  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of 
which  their  national  organization  as  a  party  was  effected : 

First.  The  Government  of  the  United  States  is  of  a  limited  char- 
acter, and  it  is  confined  to  the  exercise  of  powers  expressly  granted 
by  the  Constitution,  and  such  as  may  be  necessary  and  proper  for 
carrying  the  granted  powers  into  full  execution,  and  that  powers 
not  granted  or  necessarily  implied  are  reserved  to  the  States  respec- 
tively and  to  the  people. 

Second.  The  State  governments  should  be  held  secure  to  their 
reserved  rights,  and  the  General  Government  sustained  on  its  con- 
stitutional powers,  and  that  the  Union  should  be  revered  and  watched 
over  as  the  palladium  of  our  liberties. 

Third.  That  while  struggling  freedom  everywhere  enlists  the 
warmest  sympathy  of  the  Whig  party,  we  still  adhere  to  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Father  of  his  Country,  as  announced  in  his  Farewell 
Address,  of  keeping  ourselves  free  from  all  entangling  alliances  with 
foreign  countries,  and  of  never  quitting  our  own  to  stand  upon 
foreign  ground;  that  our  mission  as  a  republic  is  not  to  propagate 
our  opinions,  or  impose  on  other  countries  our  forms  of  government 
by  artifice  or  force ;  but  to  teach  by  example,  and  show  by  our  suc- 
cess, moderation  and  justice,  the  blessings  of  self-government  and 
the  advantage  of  free  institutions. 

Fourth.  That,  as  the  people  make  and  control  the  Government, 
they  should  obey  its  Constitution,  laws,  and  treaties,  as  they  would 
retain  their  self-respect  and  the  respect  which  they  claim  and  will 
enforce  from  foreign  powers. 

Fifth.  That  the  Government  should  be  conducted  on  principles 
of  the  strictest  economy;  and  revenue  sufficient  for  the  expenses 
thereof,  in  time  of  peace,  ought  to  be  mainly  derived  from  a  duty 
on  imports,  and  not  from  direct  taxes ;  and  in  laying  such  duties 
sound  policy  requires  a  just  discrimination,  and  protection  from 
fraud  by  specific  duties,  when  practicable,  whereby  suitable  encour- 
agement may  be  afforded  to  American  industry,  equally  to  all  classes 
and  to  all  portions  of  the  country. 

Sixth.  The  Constitution  vests  in  Congress  the  power  to  open  and 
repair  harbors,  and  remove  obstructions  from  navigable  rivers, 
whenever  such  improvements  are  necessary  for  the  common  de- 
fence and  for  the  protection  and  facility  of  commerce  with  foreign 
nations  or  among  the  States — said  improvements  being  in  every 
instance  national  and  general  in  their  character. 

Seventh.  The  Federal  and  State  governments  are  parts  of  one 
system,  alike  necessary  for  the  common  prosperity,  peace  and  secu- 
rity, and  ought  to  be  regarded  alike  with  a  cordial,  habitual,  and 
immovable  attachment.  Respect  for  the  authority  of  each,  and 
acquiescence  in  the  just  constitutional  measures  of  each,  are  duties 
required  by  the  plainest  considerations  of  national,  State  and  indi- 
vidual welfare. 

Eighth.  That  the  series  of  acts  of  the  Thirty-second  Congress, 
the  act  known  as  the  Fugitive  Slave  law  included,  are  received  and 
acquiesced  in  by  the  Whig  party  of  the  United  States  as  a  settle- 
ment in  principle  and  substance  of  the  dangerous  and  exciting  ques- 

122 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

tions  which  they  embrace;  and,  so  far  as  they  are  concerned,  we 
will  maintain  them,  and  insist  upon  their  strict  enforcement,  until 
time  and  experience  shall  demonstrate  the  necessity  of  further  legis- 
lation to  guard  against  the  evasion  of  the  laws  on  the  one  hand  and 
the  abuse  of  their  powers  on  the  otherrnot  impairing  their  present 
efficiency;  and  we  deprecate  all  further  agitation  of  the  question 
thus  settled,  as  dangerous  to  our  peace,  and  will  discountenance 
all  efforts  to  continue  or  renew  such  agitation,  whenever,  wherever, 
or  however  the  attempt  may  be  made;  and  we  will  maintain  this 
system  as  essential  to  the  nationality  of  the  Whig  party  and  the 
integrity  of  the  Union. 

The  Compromise  Measures  were  pressed  upon  the  country 
as  a  finality,  and  the  Democrats,  with  all  of  the  Southern 
Whigs  and  many  Northern  Whigs,  accepted  them  as  such. 
Had  the  Pierce  administration  permitted  the  slave  issue  to 
rest  on  the  Compromise  Measures,  it  is  probable  that  the 
birth  of  the  Republican  party  would  have  been  long  post- 
poned, but  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  gave  fresh 
vitality  to  the  slavery  dispute  and  quickened  the  antislavery 
sentiment  of  the  country  to  the  aggressive  battle  that  culmi- 
nated in  the  election  of  Lincoln  in  i86q. 

The  Free-Soil  Democrats  called  a  national  convention  to 
meet  at  Pittsburg  on  the  nth  of  August,  over  which  Henry 
Wilson,  of  Massachusetts,  presided.  John  P.  Hale,  of  New 
Hampshire,  was  nominated  for  President,  and  George  W. 
Julian,  of  Indiana,  for  Vice-President  without  the  formality 
of  a  ballot.  The  following  platform  was  adopted : 

Having  assembled  in  national  convention  as  the  Democracy  of  the 
United  States ;  united  by  a  common  resolve  to  maintain  right  against 
wrong  and  freedom  against  slavery ;  confiding  in  the  intelligence, 
patriotism,  and  discriminating  justice  of  the  American  people; 
putting  our  trust  in  God  for  the  triumph  of  our  cause,  and  invok- 
ing His  guidance  in  our  endeavors  to  advance  it — we  now  submit 
to  the  candid  judgment  of  all  men  the  following  declaration  of  prin- 
ciples and  measures: 

1.  That  governments  deriving  their  just  powers  from  the  consent 
of  the  governed  are  instituted  among  men  to  secure  to  all  those 
unalienable  rights  of  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness  with 
which  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator,  and  of  which  none  can 
be  deprived  by  valid  legislation,  except  for  crime. 

2.  That  the  true  mission  of  American  Democracy  is  to  maintain 
the  liberties  of  the  people,  the  sovereignty  of  the  States,  and  the 
perpetuity  of  the  Union,  by  the  impartial  application  to  public  af- 
fairs, without   sectional   discriminations,   of  the   fundamental   prin- 
ciples of  human  rights,  strict  justice,  and  an  economical  adminis- 
tration. 

3.  That  the  Federal  Government  is  one  of  limited  powers,  derived 
solely  from  the  Constitution,  and  the  grants  of  power  therein  ought 

123 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

to  be  strictly  construed  by  all  the  departments  and  agents  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, and  it  is  inexpedient  and  dangerous  to  exercise  doubtful 
constitutional  powers. 

4.  That  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  ordained  to  form 
a  more  perfect  Union,  to  establish  justice,  and  secure  the  blessings 
of  liberty,  expressly  denies  to  the  General  Government  all  power 
to  deprive  any  person  of  life,  liberty,  or  property  without  due  process 
of  law;    and,  therefore,  the  Government,  having  no  more  power  to 
make  a  slave  than  to  make  a  king,  and  no  more  power  to  establish 
slavery   than   to   establish    a    monarchy,    should    at    once    proceed 
to  relieve  itself  from  all  responsibility  for  the  existence  of  slavery 
wherever    it    possesses    constitutional    power    to    legislate    for    its 
extinction. 

5.  That,  to  the  persevering  and  importunate  demand  of  the  slave 
power  for  more  Slave  States,  new  Slave  Territories,  and  the  nation- 
alization of  slavery,  our  distinct  and  final  answer  is :  No  more  Slave 
States,  no  Slave  Territory,  no  nationalized  slavery,  and  no  national 
legislation  for  the  extradition  of  slaves. 

6.  That  slavery  is  a  sin  against  God  and  a  crime  against  man, 
which   no   human   enactment  or   usage  can   make   right ;     and   that 
Christianity,  humanity,  and  patriotism  alike  demand  its  abolition. 

7.  That  the  Fugitive  Slave  act  of  1850  is  repugnant  to  the  Con- 
stitution,  to   the   principles   of   the   common   law,    to   the   spirit   of 
Christianity,    and   to    the    sentiments    of   the   civilized    world.      We 
therefore   deny   its   binding   force   upon   the   American   people,   and 
demand  its  immediate  and  total  repeal. 

8.  That  the  doctrine  that  any  human  law  is  a  finality,   and  not 
subject   to   modification   or   repeal,    is   not   in   accordance   with   the 
creed  of  the  founders  of  our  Government,  and  is  dangerous  to  the 
liberties  of  the  people. 

9.  That  the  acts  of  Congress  known  as  the  "  Compromise"  Meas- 
ures of  1850 — by    making   the    admission  of  a  sovereign  State  con- 
tingent upon  the  adoption  of  other  measures  demanded  by  the  spe- 
cial interest  of  slavery;  by  their  omission  to  guarantee  freedom  in 
the  Free  Territories;   by  their  attempt  to  impose  unconstitutional 
limitations  on  the  power  of  Congress  and  the  people  to  admit  new 
States;  by  their  provisions  for  the  assumption  of  five  millions  of 
the  State  debt  of  Texas,  and  for  the  payment  of  five  millions  more 
and  the  cession  of  a  large  territory  to  the  same  State  under  menace, 
as  an  inducement  to  the  relinquishment  of  a  groundless  claim ;  and 
by  their  invasion  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  States  and  the  liberties 
of  the  people,  through  the  enactment  of  an  unjust,  oppressive,  and 
unconstitutional  Fugitive  Slave  law — are  proved  to  be  inconsistent 
with  all  the  principles  and  maxims  of  Democracy,  and  wholly  inad- 
equate to  the  settlement  of  the  questions  of  which  they  are  claimed 
to  be  an  adjustment. 

10.  That  no  permanent  settlement  of  the  slavery  question  can  be 
looked   for   except   in   the   practical   recognition   of  the   truth   that 
slavery  is  sectional  and  freedom  national;    by  the  total  separation 
of  the  General  Government  from  slavery,  and  the  exercise  of  its 
legitimate  and  constitutional  influence  on  the  side  of  freedom;  and 
by  leaving  to  the  States  the  whole  subject  of  slavery  and  the  extra- 
dition of  fugitives  from  service. 

11.  That  all  men  have  a  natural  right  to  a  portion  of  the  soil; 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

and  that,  as  the  use  of  the  soil  is  indispensable  to  life,  the  right  of 
all  men  to  the  soil  is  as  sacred  as  their  right  to  life  itself. 

12.  That   the  public   lands   of   the   United    States   belong   to   the 
people,  and  should  not  be  sold  to  individuals  nor  granted  to  cor- 
porations, but  should  be  held  as  a  sacred  trust  for  the  benefit  of  the 
people,  and  should  be  granted  in  limited  quantities,  free  of  cost,  to 
landless  settlers. 

13.  That  a  due  regard  for  the  Federal  Constitution  and  a  sound 
administrative  policy  demands  that  the  funds  of  the  General  Gov- 
ernment be  kept  separate  from  banking  institutions ;  that  inland  and 
ocean  postage  should  be  reduced  to  the  lowest  possible  point;    that 
no  more  revenue  should  be  raised  than  is  required  to  defray  the 
strictly  necessary  expenses  of  the  public  service,  and  to  pay  off  the 
public  debt;  and  that  the  power  and  patronage  of  the  Government 
should  be  diminished,  by  the  abolition  of  all  unnecessary  offices, 
salaries,  and  privileges,  and  by  the  election,  by  the  people,  of  all 
civil  officers  in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  so  far  as  may  be 
consistent  with  the  prompt  and  efficient  transaction  of  the  public 
business. 

14.  That  river  and  harbor  improvements,  when  necessary  to  the 
safety  and  convenience  of  commerce  with  foreign  nations  or  among 
the    several    States,  are    objects    of    national  concern;  and  it  is  the 
duty  of  Congress,  in  the  exercise  of  its  constitutional  powers,  to  pro- 
vide for  the  same. 

15.  That  emigrants  and  exiles  from  the  Old  World  should  find 
a  cordial  welcome  to  homes  of  comfort  and  fields  of  enterprise  in 
the  New ;  and  every  attempt  to  abridge  their  privilege  of  becoming 
citizens  and  owners  of  soil  among  us  ought  to  be  resisted  with  in- 
flexible determination. 

16.  That  every  nation  has  a  clear  right  to  alter  or  change  its 
own  government,  and  to  administer  its  own  concerns,   in  such  a 
manner  as  may  best  secure  the  rights  and  promote  the  happiness  of 
the  people ;  and  foreign  interference  with  that  right  is  a  dangerous 
violation  of  the  laws  of  nations,  against  which  all  independent  gov- 
ernments should  protest,  and  endeavor  by  all  proper  means  to  pre- 
vent; and  especially  is  it  the  duty  of  the  American  Government, 
representing  the  chief  republic  of  the  world,  to  protest  against,  and 
by  all  proper  means  to  prevent,  the  intervention  of  kings  and  em- 
perors against  nations  seeking  to  establish  for  themselves  repub- 
lican or  constitutional  governments. 

17.  That  the  independence  of  Hayti  ought  to  be  recognized  by 
our  Government,  and  our  commercial  relations  with  it  placed  on  a 
footing  of  the  most  favored  nation. 

18.  That  as,  by  the  Constitution,  the  "  citizens  of  each  State  shall 
be  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the 
several  States,"  the  practice  of  imprisoning  colored  seamen  of  other 
States,  while  the  vessels  to  which  they  belong  lie  in  port,  and  re- 
fusing the  exercise  of  the  right  to  bring  such  cases  before  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States,  to  test  the  legality  of  such  pro- 
ceedings, is  a  flagrant  violation  of  the  Constitution,  and  an  invasion 
of  the   rights  of  the  citizens  of  other   States,   utterly   inconsistent 
with  the  professions  made  by  the  slaveholders,  that  they  wish  the 
provisions  of  the  Constitution  faithfully  observed  by  every  State  in 
the  Union. 

125 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

19.  That  we  recommend  the  introduction  into  all  treaties  here- 
after   to    be    negotiated    between    the   United   States   and    foreign 
nations,  of  some  provision  for  the  amicable  settlement  of  difficulties 
by  a  resort  to  decisive  arbitration. 

20.  That  the  Free  Democratic  party  is  not  organized  to  aid  either 
the  Whig  or  the  Democratic  wing  of  the  great  slave-compromise 
party  of  the  nation,  but  to  defeat  them  both ;    and  that,  repudiating 
and  renouncing  both  as  hopelessly  corrupt  and  utterly  unworthy  of 
confidence,  the  purpose  of  the  Free  Democracy  is  to  take  possession 
of  the  Federal  Government,   and  administer  it  for  the  better  pro- 
tection of  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  whole  people. 

21.  That  we  inscribe  on  our  banner,  "  Free  soil,  free  speech,  free 
labor,  and  free  men !  "  and  under  it  will  fight  on  and  fight  ever 
until  a  triumphant  victory  shall  reward  our  exertions. 

22.  That  upon  this  platform  the  convention  presents  to  the  Ameri- 
can people  as  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  President  of  the  United 
States,  John  P.  Hale,  of  New  Hampshire,  and  as  a  candidate  for  the 
office  of  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  George  W.  Julian,  of 
Indiana,  and  earnestly  commends  them  to  the  support  of  all  free 
men  and  all  parties. 

(The  contest  of  1852  was  a  hopeless  one  for  the  Whigs 
from  the  start.  General  Scott  had  great  faith  in  his  own 
election,  but  he  stood  almost  entirely  alone  in  that  confidence. 
After  the  disastrous  October  elections  he  took  the  stump 
against  the  advice  of  his  more  discreet  friends,  and  delivered 
a  number  of  campaign  speeches,  which  are  now  remembered 
chiefly  because  of  his  flattery  to  the  foreign  vote,  compli- 
menting the  "  rich  Irish  brogue"  and  "  the  sweet  German 
accent"  of  many  of  his  supporters.  The  result  was  that 
Pierce,  a  man  who  had  never  been  discussed  for  the  Presi- 
dency, but  had  been  brought  out  as  the  "  dark  horse"  at 
the  national  convention,  carried  every  State  in  the  Union 
but  four)-Massachusetts  and  Vermont,  in  the  North,  and 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  in  the  South.  The  following  is 
the  popular  and  electoral  vote : 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


POPULAR 

VOTE. 

ELEC 

TORS. 

STATES. 

Franklin  Pierce, 
Democrat. 

*r 

•o  - 

U 

e2 

I1 

John  P.  Hale, 
Free  Soil  Demo- 
crat. 

Total  vote. 

Pierce. 

o 
o 

Cfl 

Alabama           

26,881 

15,038 

41,919 

9 

Arkansas 

12,173 

7,404 

19,577 

4 

California        .  . 

40,626 

35,407 

100 

76,133 

4 

Connecticut  .  . 

33,249 

30,357 

3,160 

66,766 

6 

Delaware 

6,318 

6,293 

62 

12,673 

3 

Florida  .         .    . 

4,318 

2,875 

7,193 

3 

Georeria 

34,705 

16,660 

51,365 

10 

Illinois  

80,597 

64,934 

9,966 

155,497 

11 



Indiana. 

95,340 

80,901 

6,929 

183,170 

13 

17  763 

15  856 

1  604 

35  223 

A 

Kentucky        

53,806 

57,068 

265 

111,139 

1?. 

Louisiana  

18,647 

17,255 

35,902 

6 

Maine  

41,609 

32,543 

8,030 

82,182 

8 

Maryland  
Massachusetts 

40,020 
44,569 

35,066 
52,683 

54 

28  023 

75,140 
125  275 

8 

13 

Michigan 

41,842 

33,859 

7,237 

82,938 

6 

Mississippi            .    . 

26,876 

17,548 

44,424 

7 

Missouri.  ... 

38,353 

29,984 

68,337 

9 

New  Hampshire.  .  . 
New  Jersey 

29,997 
44,305 

16,147 
38  556 

6,695 
350 

52,839 
83  211 

5 

7 

— 

New  York 

262,083 

234,882 

25  329 

522  294 

35 

North  Carolina.  . 
Ohio  

39,744 
169,220 

39,058 
152,526 

59 
31,682 

78,861 
353,428 

10 
23 

— 

Pennsylvania  

198,568 

179,174 

8,525 

386,267 

27 

Rhode  Island  
South  Carolina*... 
Tennessee  . 

8,735 

57,018 

7,626 

58,898 

644 

17,005 
115  916 

4 

8 

l?r 

Texas  . 

13,552 

4,995 

18,547 

4 

Vermont  

13,044 

22,173 

8,621 

43,838 

5 

Virginia  

73,858 

58,572 

132,430 

15 

Wisconsin 

31,658 

22  240 

8  814 

64  712 

5 

Total  

1,601,474 

1,386,578 

156,149 

3,144,201 

254 

42 

*  The  electors  were  chosen  by  the  legislature. 

President  Pierce  could  have  had  a  tranquil  administration 
and  generally  maintained  sectional  peace  if  he  had  not 
wantonly  reopened  the  slavery  issue  by  assenting  to  the 
repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  and  making  it  a  Demo- 
cratic measure.  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  which  were  north 


127 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

of  the  Missouri  line,  whose  territory  had  been  solemnly 
dedicated  to  freedom  by  the  Missouri  Compromise  of  1820, 
that  admitted  Missouri  as  a  Slave  State,  were  coveted  by 
the  slavery  extensionists,  and  they  decided  not  only  against 
the  solemnly  plighted  faith  of  the  nation,  but,  in  disregard 
of  climatic  objections,  to  force  slavery  in  both  of  those 
Territories  and  make  them  Slave  States.  The  slavery  propa- 
gandists had  failed  to  gather  any  substantial  fruits  for 
slavery  from  our  Mexican  acquisitions,  and  in  the  despera- 
tion of  the  suicide  they  resolved  to  force  slavery  into  Kansas 
and  Nebraska  by  a  system  of  violence  that  was  generally 
described  at  that  time  as  "  border  ruffianism/'  and  that 
made  the  name  of  John  Brown  immortal. 

The  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  the  beginning 
of  the  end  of  slavery.  It  was  noticed  that  there  could  be  no 
peace  with  Northern  industry  and  progress  advancing 
rapidly  and  hastening  the  formation  of  new  States,  while 
the  South  was  standing  still.  A  number  of  new  and  very 
able  men  had  been  called  into  the  political  arena  by  the 
slavery  agitation.  Salmon  P.  Chase,  of  Ohio,  and  Charles 
Sumner,  of  Massachusetts,  were  both  elected  to  the  Senate 
by  a  solid  Democratic  vote,  united  with  the  Free  Soilers  of 
their  respective  Legislatures.  Henry  Wilson,  the  "  Natick 
Cobbler,"  had  become  more  potent  in  Massachusetts  than 
was  Webster  at  the  time  of  his  death;  and  the  antislavery 
sentiment  was  visibly  and  speedily  growing  toward  immense 
proportions. 

The  Whig  party  made  its  final  battle  in  1852,  although 
it  was  nominally  in  the  field  in  1856,  and  a  new  party  was 
created  out  of  the  odds  and  ends  of  the  old  Native  American 
party.  Opposition  to  Catholics  had  been  intensified  by 
Pierce  appointing  Judge  Campbell,  of  Philadelphia,  Post- 
master-General. He  was  a  very  able  and  faithful  Cabinet 
officer,  and  there  wc.s  no  pretence  that  his  religious  views 
in  any  way  influenced  his  official  appointments,  but  it  revived 
the  embers  of  Native  Americanism,  and  the  great  mass  of 
the  Whigs,  who  knew  that  the  Whig  party  had  practically 
perished,  and  the  antislavery  Democrats  were  without 
political  vocations.  They  were  like  the  Federalists  who 
first  found  refuge  in  anti-Masonry,  and  with  anti-Masonry 
afterward  found  refuge  in  the  Whig  party.  The  result  was 
the  very  rapid  spread  of  the  new  American,  or  what  was 
commonly  called  the  Know-Nothing  party,  with  secret 

128 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

lodges  and  its  members  all  sworn  not  to  divulge  the  move- 
ments of  the  organization  and  to  vote  for  its  nominated 
candidates.  It  exhibited  wonderful  strength  in  many  locali- 
ties early  in  1854,  and  it  was  not  uncommon  in  local  elections, 
when  the  vote  was  counted,  to  find  that  all  the  officers 
elected  were  unknown  to  the  public  as  candidates.  Its  first 
important  triumph  was  in  the  municipal  election  of  Phila- 
delphia in  May,  1854,  when  Judge  Conrad,  candidate  of  the 
Whigs  and  secret  candidate  of  the  Know-Nothings,  was 
elected  Mayor  by  an  overwhelming  majority. 

The  Democrats  lost  a  large  number  of  their  ablest  men 
on  the  slavery  issue,  provoked  to  defection  by  the  repeal  of 
the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  it  was  evident  that  the  party 
would  be  divided  in  the  next  national  campaign;  but  the 
various  elements  of  opposition  were  even  more  incongruous 
and  had  little  prospect  of  anything  approaching  the  unity 
necessary  to  succeed.  Pierce,  like  Fillmore,  Polk,  and 
Tyler,  was  a  candidate  for  re-election,  but  failed  disas- 
trously in  his  own  convention  after  wielding  the  power  of 
his  position  to  the  uttermost,  and  his  administration  ended 
with  the  country  rent  by  sectional  feuds  and  gravely  threat- 
ened with  fraternal  war. 


THE  BUCHANAN-FREMONT-FILL- 
MORE  CONTEST 

1856 

THE  Presidential  battle  of  1856,  that  gave  Pennsylvania 
her  only  President  in  James  Buchanan,  is  memorable  chiefly 
because  it  dated  the  birth  of  the  Republican  party  as  a 
national  organization,  that  was  destined  to  conduct  the  great- 
est civil  war  of  modern  history,  to  abolish  slavery,  maintain 
its  power  uninterruptedly  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  to 
write  the  most  lustrous  chapters  in  the  annals  of  the  Repub- 
lic. 

The  Democrats  were  greatly  demoralized  by  the  repeal  of 
the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  they  suffered  the  aggressive 
defection  of  a  number  of  Democratic  leaders  with  large 
popular  following,  but  the  various  shades  of  opposition  to 
the  Democracy  were  even  more  hopelessly  divided.  The 
Democrats  had  the  advantage  of  being  able  to  command  a 
solid  vote  from  the  South  on  a  square  slavery  issue,  and  they 
reasonably  hoped  that  they  could  hold  enough  States  in  the 
North  to  give  them  success.  Buchanan  had  been  abroad  as 
Minister  during  the  troublesome  times  of  the  Pierce  adminis- 
tration, and  he  returned  just  in  good  time  to  make  the  most 
out  of  the  disturbed  situation  that  confronted  him.  The  re- 
nomination  and  re-election  of  Pierce  were  hopeless.  Cass 
had  been  defeated  by  the  people  and  suffered  repeated  de- 
feats in  national  conventions.  Buchanan  thus  had  a  strong 
lead  for  the  Presidential  nomination,  and  he  was  most  for- 
tunate in  having  the  accomplished,  devoted,  and  tireless 
Colonel  Forney  to  manage  his  campaign,  not  only  for  the 
nomination,  but  to  direct  the  national  contest  in  the  few 
Northern  States  which  could  be  held  to  the  Democratic  flag. 

The  Southern  leaders  had  absolute  confidence  in  Bu- 
chanan, and  they  were  entirely  justified  in  their  faith.  He 

130 


JAMES    BUCHANAN 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


had  been  a  Federal  member  of  Congress  in  early  days,  and 
later  entered  the  Democratic  party  with  all  the  strict  con- 
struction ideas  of  Federalism,  which  were  then  in  harmony 
with  the  Democratic  policy  as  applied  to  the  slavery  issue. 
He  was  the  logical  Democratic  candidate  for  President  in 
1856;  and  President  Pierce,  an  utterly  impossible  candidate, 
as  it  was  known  that  he  never  could  command  the  necessary 
two-thirds  vote  in  the  convention,  was  his  only  serious  com- 
petitor when  the  balloting  began. 

U!he  Democratic  National  Convention  met  in  Cincinnati 
on  the  2d  of  June,  with  full  delegations  from  every  State,  and 
two  contesting  delegations  from  New  York  and  Missouri?) 
The  quarrel  between  the  factions  in  both  States  was  intensely- 
bitter.  The  opposing  factions  of  New  York  were  known  as 
the  "  Hards,"  who  were  a  spawn  of  the  old  Hunkers,  and  the 
"  Softs,"  who  took  the  place  of  the  Barnburners.  The  Mis- 
souri delegations  were  known  as  the  Bentonites  and  the  Reg- 
ulars, the  Bentonites  having  lost  the  control  of  the  party  or- 
ganization in  the  State.  The  convention  solved  the  problem 
by  admitting  both  delegations  from  each  State,  and  giving 
each  delegate  only  half  a  vote.  John  E.  Ward,  of  Georgia, 
was  made  the  permanent  president,  and  the  two-thirds  rule 
was  reaffirmed  without  a  contest. 

It  was  at  this  convention  that  Stephen  A.  Douglas  first 
developed  as  an  aggressive  candidate  for  President,  and  as 
he  had  led  the  battle  for  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise, he  was  in  harmony  with  the  Pierce  administration. 
As  will  be  seen  by  the  ballots,  his  strength  was  almost  wholly 
given  to  Pierce  until  Pierce's  unavailability  was  clearly  es- 
tablished, when  the  Pierce  vote  was  mostly  transferred  to 
Douglas.  The  following  table  presents  the  17  ballots  in 
detail,  resulting  in  the  nomination  of  Buchanan : 


BALLOTS. 

Buchanan. 

Pierce. 

Douglas. 

d 

3 

1.. 

135 

122 

33 

5 

2.. 

139 

119^ 

31^ 

6 

3.. 

139^ 

119 

3ST 

*)\/ 

4. 

141  Y9 

119 

30 

5/4 

5.... 

140 

119i£ 

31 

SL/ 

6  

155 

117k 

28 

512 

"72 

131 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


BALLOTS. 

Buchanan. 

Pierce. 

Douglas. 

1 

7.. 

1431^ 

89 

58 

5^ 

8  

1472 

87 

56 

5K 

9 

146 

87 

56 

7 

10 

150^ 

80l£ 

59^ 

6U 

11  

147U 

80 

63 

5M 

12  

148 

79 

63^ 

ti2 

13  

150 

77U 

63/2 

5i£ 

14  

152^ 

75/2 

63 

5^ 

15     . 

168^2 

3^ 

118^ 

& 

16... 

168 

121 

6 

17  

296 

As  Buchanan  was  from  the  North,  the  Vice-Presidency 
was  conceded  to  the  South,  and  10  candidates  were  placed  in 
nomination.  The  ist  ballot  resulted  as  follows: 


T.  A.  Quitman,  Miss 59 

Linn  Boyd,  Ky 33 

A.  V.  Brown,  Tenn 29 

J.  A.  Bayard,  Del 31 

T.  J.  Rusk,  Texas 2 


J.  C.  Breckenridge,  Ky 55 

B.  Fitzpatrick,  Ala 11 

H.  V.  Johnson,  Ga 31 

Trusten  Polk,  Mo 5 

J.  C.  Dobbin,  N.  C 13 


When  the  2d  ballot  was  called,  a  number  of  the  candi- 
dates had  their  names  withdrawn,  and  Mr.  Breckenridge 
was  given  a  unanimous  nomination.  He  was  the  idol  of  the 
young  Democracy  of  the  South,  having  won  his  spurs  by  two 
of  the  most  remarkable  Congressional  campaigns  in  the  his- 
tory of  Kentucky,  in  which  he  had  defeated  Governor 
Letcher  and  Leslie  Combs,  two  of  the  ablest  of  the  old  Clay 
leaders  in  the  Ashland  district.  His  success  was  due  entirely 
to  his  own  personal  popularity.  He  was  not  only  one  of  the 
ablest  of  all  the  Breckenridges,  but  he  was  a  most  accom- 
plished, genial,  and  delightful  companion,  and  his  nomina- 
tion greatly  strengthened  the  Democratic  ticket  in  all  sec- 
tions of  the  country. 

The  platform  was  finally  adopted  without  a  contest.  It 
recited  first  the  preamble  adopted  in  1844,  followed  by  ten 
resolutions  from  other  previous  platforms,  embracing  the 
first  five  of  1840,  and  others  embracing  the  Democratic  views 
on  the  proceeds  of  the  public  land;  in  opposition  to  a  na- 

132 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

tional  bank ;  in  favor  of  the  subtreasury  system ;  in  support 
of  the  veto  power,  and  opposing  any  new  limitations  upon 
naturalization.  To  these  the  following  new  resolutions  were 
added : 

And  whereas,  Since  the  foregoing  declaration  was  uniformly 
adopted  by  our  predecessors  in  national  convention,  an  adverse 
political  and  religious  test  has  been  secretly  organized  by  a  party 
claiming  to  be  exclusively  American,  and  it  is  proper  that  the  Ameri- 
can Democracy  should  clearly  define  its  relations  thereto,  and  de- 
clare its  determined  opposition  to  all  secret  political  societies,  by 
whatever  name  they  may  be  called — 

Resolved,  That  the  foundation  of  this  Union  of  States  having  been 
laid  in,  and  its  prosperity,  expansion,  and  pre-eminent  example  of 
free  government  built  upon  entire  freedom  in  matters  of  religious 
concernment,  and  no  respect  of  persons  in  regard  to  rank  or  place 
or  birth,  no  party  can  be  justly  deemed  national,  constitutional,  or 
in  accordance  with  American  principles  which  bases  its  exclusive 
organization  upon  religious  opinions  and  accidental  birthplace.  And 
hence  a  political  crusade  in  the  nineteenth  century,  and  in  the  United 
States  of  America,  against  Catholics  and  foreign-born,  is  neither 
justified  by  the  past  history  nor  future  prospects  of  the  country,  nor 
in  unison  with  the  spirit  of  toleration  and  enlightened  freedom 
which  peculiarly  distinguishes  the  American  system  of  popular 
government. 

Resolved,  That  we  reiterate  with  renewed  energy  of  purpose  the 
\yell-considered  declarations  of  former  conventions  upon  the  sec- 
tional issue  of  domestic  slavery  and  concerning  the  reserved  rights 
of  the  States— 

1.  That   Congress  has  no  power  under  the  Constitution  to  inter- 
fere with  or  control  the  domestic  institutions  of  the  several  States, 
and  that  all  such  States  are  the  sole  and  proper  judges  of  everything 
appertaining  to  their  own  affairs  not  prohibited  by  the  Constitution ; 
that  all  efforts  of  the  Abolitionists  or  others  made  to  induce  Congress 
to  interfere  with  questions  of  slavery,  or  to  take  incipient  steps  in 
relation  thereto,  are  calculated  to  lead  to  the  most  alarming  and 
dangerous  consequences,  and  that  all  such  efforts  have  an  inevitable 
tendency  to  diminish  the  happiness  of  the  people  and  endanger  the 
stability  and  permanency  of  the  Union,  and  ought  not  to  be  coun- 
tenanced by  any  friend  of  our  political  institutions. 

2.  That  the  foregoing  covers,  and  was  intended  to  embrace,  the 
whole  subject  of  slavery  agitation  in  Congress,  and  therefore  the 
Democratic  party  of  the  Union,  standing  on  this  national  platform, 
will  abide  by  and  adhere  to  a  faithful  execution  of  the  acts  known 
as  the  "  Compromise  "  Measures,  settled  by  the  Congress  of  1850,  the 
act  for  reclaiming  fugitives  from  service  or  labor  included;  which 
act,  being  designed  to  carry  out  an  express  provision  of  the  Con- 
stitution, cannot,  with  fidelity  thereto,  be  repealed,  or  so  changed  as 
to  destroy  or  impair  its  efficiency. 

3.  That  the  Democratic  party  will  resist  all  attempts  at  renewing, 
in  Congress  or  out  of  it,  the  agitation  of  the  slavery  question,  under 
whatever  shape  or  color  the  attempt  may  be  made. 

4.  The  Democratic  party  will  faithfully  abide  by  and  uphold  the 

133 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

principle  laid  down  in  the  Kentucky  and  Virginia  resolutions  of  1797 
and  1798,  and  in  the  report  of  Mr.  Madison  to  the  Virginia  Legisla- 
ture in  1799;  that  it  adopts  these  principles  as  constituting  one  of 
the  main  foundations  of  its  political  creed,  and  is  resolved  to  carry 
them  out  in  their  obvious  meaning  and  import. 

And  that  we  may  more  distinctly  meet  the  issue  on  which  a 
sectional  party,  subsisting  exclusively  on  slavery  agitation,  now  re- 
lies to  test  the  fidelity  of  the  people,  North  and  South,  to  the  Con- 
stitution and  the  Union — 

1.  Resolved,  That,  claiming  fellowship  with  and  desiring  the  co- 
operation of  all  who  regard  the  preservation  of  the  Union  under 
the  Constitution  as  the  paramount  issue,  and  repudiating  all  sec- 
tional issues  and  platforms  concerning  domestic  slavery  which  seek 
to  embroil  the  States  and  incite  to  treason  and  armed  resistance  to 
law  in  the  Territories,  and  whose  avowed  purpose,  if  consummated, 
must  end  in  civil  war  and  disunion,  the  American  Democracy  rec- 
ognize and  adopt  the  principles  contained  in  the  organic  laws  estab- 
lishing the  Territories  of  Nebraska  and  Kansas  as  embodying  the 
only  sound  and  safe  solution  of  the  slavery  question,  upon  which  the 
great  national  idea  of  the  people  of  this  whole  country  can  repose 
in  its  determined  conservation  of  the  Union,  and  non-interference 
of  Congress  with  slavery  in  the  Territories  or  in  the  District  of 
Columbia. 

2.  That  this  was  the  basis  of  the  compromise  of  1850,  confirmed 
by  both  the  Democratic  and  Whig  parties  in  national  conventions, 
ratified  by  the  people  in  the  election  of  1852,  and  rightly  applied  to 
the  organization  of  the  Territories  in  1854. 

3.  That  by  the  uniform  application  of  the  Democratic  principle 
to  the  organization  of  Territories,  and  the  admission  of  new  States 
with  or  without  domestic  slavery,  as  they  may  elect,  the  equal  rights 
of  all  the  States  will  be  preserved  intact,  the  original  compacts  of  the 
Constitution   maintained  inviolate,   and  the  perpetuity  and   expan- 
sion of  the  Union  insured  to  its  utmost  capacity  of  embracing,  in 
peace  and  harmony,  every  future  American  State  that  may  be  con- 
stituted or  annexed  with  a  republican  form  of  government. 

Resolved,  That  we  recognize  the  right  of  the  people  of  all  the 
Territories,  including  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  acting  through  the 
legally  and  fairly  expressed  will  of  the  majority  of  the  actual  resi- 
dents, and  whenever  the  number  of  their  inhabitants  justifies  it, 
to  form  a  constitution,  with  or  without  domestic  slavery,  and  be 
admitted  into  the  Union  upon  terms  of  perfect  equality  with  the 
other  States. 

Resolved,  Finally,  that  in  view  of  the  condition  of  popular  in- 
stitutions in  the  Old  World  (and  the  dangerous  tendencies  of  sec- 
tional agitation,  combined  with  the  attempt  to  enforce  civil  and 
religious  disabilities  against  the  rights  of  acquiring  and  enjoying 
citizenship  in  our  own  land),  a  high  and  sacred  duty  is  devolved, 
with  increased  responsibility,  upon  the  Democratic  party  of  this 
country,  as  the  party  of  the  Union,  to  uphold  and  maintain  the 
rights  of  every  State,  and  thereby  the  Union  of  the  States;  and  to 
sustain  and  advance  among  us  constitutional  liberty,  by  continuing 
to  resist  all  monopolies  and  exclusive  legislation  for  the  benefit  of 
the  few  at  the  expense  of  the  many :  and  by  a  vigilant  and  constant 
adherence  to  those  principles  and  compromises  of  the  Constitution 

134 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

which  are  broad  enough  and  strong  enough  to  embrace  and  uphold 
the  Union  as  it  was,  the  Union  as  it  is,  and  the  Union  as  it  shall 
be,  in  the  full  expansion  of  the  energies  and  capacity  of  this  great 
and  progressive  people. 

1.  Resolved,  That  there  are  questions  connected  with  the  foreign 
policy  of  this  country  which  are  inferior  to  no  domestic  question 
whatever.     The  time  has  come  for  the  people  of  the  United  States 
to  declare    themselves    in  favor  of    free  seas,  and    progressive   free 
trade  throughout  the  world,  and  by  solemn  manifestations  to  place 
their  moral  influence  at  the  side  of  their  successful  example. 

2.  Resolved,    That   our   geographical   and   political    position   with 
reference  to  the  other  States  of  this  continent,  no  less  than  the  in- 
terest of  our  commerce  and  the  development  of  our  growing  power, 
requires  that  we  should  hold  sacred  the  principles  involved  in  the 
Monroe  Doctrine.     Their   bearing   and    import  admit  of  no  miscon- 
struction, and  should  be  applied  with  unbending  rigidity. 

3.  Resolved,   That  the   great  highway,  which   nature   as   well   as 
the  assent  of  States  most  immediately  interested  in  its  maintenance 
has  marked  out  for  free  communication  between  the  Atlantic  and  the 
Pacific  oceans,  constitutes  one  of  the  most  important  achievements 
realized  by  the  spirit  of  modern  times,  in  the  unconquerable  energy 
of  our  people;  and  that  result  would  be  secured  by  a  timely  and 
efficient  exertion  of  the  control  which  we  have  the  right  to  claim 
over  it ;  and  no  power  on  earth  should  be  suffered  to  impede  or  clog 
its  progress  by  any  interference  with  relations  that  it  may  suit  our 
policy  to  establish 'between  our  Government  and  the  governments  of 
the  States  within  whose  dominions  it  lies.    We  can,  under  no  circum- 
stances, surrender  our  preponderance  in  the  adjustment  of  all  ques- 
tions arising  out  of  it. 

4.  Resolved,   That,   in  view  of  so  commanding  an  interest,   the 
people  of  the  United  States  cannot  but  sympathize  with  the  efforts 
which  are  being  made  by  the  people  of  Central  America  to  regen- 
erate that  portion  of  the  continent  which  covers  the  passage  across 
the  inter-oceanic  isthmus. 

5.  Resolved,  That  the  Democratic   party  will    expect  of   the   next 
administration  that  every  proper  effort  be  made  to  insure  our  as- 
cendancy in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  to  maintain  permanent  pro- 
tection to  the  great  outlets  through  which  are  emptied  into  its  waters 
the  products  raised  out  of  the  soil  and  the  commodities  created  by 
the  industry  of  the  people  of  our  Western  valleys  and  of  the  Union 
at  large. 

Resolved,  That  the  administration  of  Franklin  Pierce  has  been 
true  to  Democratic  principles,  and  therefore  true  to  the  great  inter- 
ests of  the  country.  In  the  face  of  violent  opposition  he  has  main- 
tained the  laws  at  home,  and  vindicated  the  rights  of  American 
citizens  abroad ;  and  therefore  we  proclaim  our  unqualified  admira- 
tion of  his  measures  and  policy. 

When  Buchanan  was  nominated  for  President  everything 
indicated  his  election  by  a  very  large  majority  and  without 
a  serious  struggle.  It  was  evident  to  all  that  the  antislavery 
sentiment  was  making  rapid  strides  in  the  North.  The 
Democrats  felt  certain  (A  a  solid  vote  in  the  South,  and  they 

135 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

did  not  regard  it  as  possible  for  the  Republican  party  to 
unite  the  American  and  conservative  Whig  elements  to 
sufficient  extent  to  enable  it  to  make  a  hopeful  contest 
in  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  and  the  Western  Democratic 
States ;  but  very  soon  after  the  meeting  of  the  first  Repub- 
lican National  Convention  the  new  party  grew  with  such 
rapidity  that  the  Democratic  leaders  finally  looked  the  fact 
in  the 'face  that  they  had  a  very  desperate  and  doubtful 
contest  before  them. 

The  Republican  party  first  appeared  in  the  political  arena 
in  1854.  It  had  then  a  small  organization  in  New  York 
State,  and  cast  a  sufficient  number  of  votes  to  elect  Clark, 
the  Whig  candidate,  for  Governor,  over  Seymour,  the 
Democratic  candidate,  who  lost  the  Governorship  by  309 
majority.  I  was  at  the  cradle  of  the  Republican  party ;  was 
a  delegate  to  its  first  State  convention,  held  in  Pittsburg, 
Penn.,  in  1855.  It  was  a  mass  convention,  composed  of 
a  loose  aggregation  of  political  free-thinkers,  but  a  number 
of  very  able  men,  including  Giddings  and  Bingham,  of 
Ohio,  and  Allison,  of  Pennsylvania,  who  presided,  delivered 
addresses.  There  was  but  one  State  office  to  fill  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, that  of  Canal  Commissioner.  The  convention  was 
made  up  very  largely  of  the  aggressive  Abolition  element 
of  the  State,  small  in  number,  but  bold  and  assertive  in 
action,  as  was  shown  by  the  spontaneous  nomination  of 
Passmore  Williamson,  who  was  then  in  prison  for  contempt 
of  court  in  a  fugitive  slave  case.  The  nomination  was 
resented  by  all  the  conservative  Whigs  and  by  the  Ameri- 
cans, and  without  the  votes  of  those  parties  the  Republican 
organization  could  not  carry  a  township  in  the  State. 
Williamson  was  finally  persuaded  to  retire,  and  the  Whig, 
American,  and  Republican  committees  united  on  Thomas 
Nicholson,  of  Beaver,  but  the  elements  were  too  discordant, 
and  the  State  was  lost  by  some  12,000. 

I  was  a  delegate  to  the  first  Republican  National  Conven- 
tion, that  met  in  Philadelphia  on  the  I7th  of  June,  1856.  It 
was  also  a  mass  convention,  as  the  party  had  no  organization, 
and  States  sent  large  or  small  delegations  as  was  most 
convenient.  I  went  to  the  convention,  hoping  to  aid  in 
the  nomination  of  Judge  McLean  for  President,  who  was 
sufficiently  conservative  to  command  both  the  Whig  and 
American  votes,  and  I  had  no  faith  whatever  in  the  success 
of  a  distinctive  Republican  candidate  and  party.  I  was 

136 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

surprised  to  find  the  Republicans  of  New  England  and  of 
New  York  who  were  attending  the  convention  in  favor  of 
a  radical  Republican  policy,  and  I  was  so  much  dissatisfied 
with  the  evident  outcome  of  the  convention  that,  although 
I  attended  its  first  session,  I  did  not  enroll  as  a  delegate, 
and  did  not  participate  in  any  of  its  important  proceedings. 
I  well  remember  meeting  Mr.  Greeley  among  the  first  of 
those  who  came  to  the  convention,  and  wondered  how  he 
had  lost  all  his  politicaf  cunning  when  he  told  me,  in  the 
most  enthusiastic  way,  that  Fremont  would  carry  New  York 
by  50,000  majority,  and  that  the  Republican  party  would  be 
sufficiently  strong  to  win  the  battle  without  any  concessions 
whatever  to  the  other  elements  opposed  to  the  Democratic 
party.  I  had  no  faith  in  Fremont,  either  as  a  candidate  or 
as  a  President.  I  shared  the  general  conservative  Whig 
sentiment  of  Pennsylvania  that  the  Republican  convention 
in  nominating  Fremont  on  a  square-toed  Republican  plat- 
form was  altogether  too  "  wild  and  woolley"  in  flavor  to 
win  at  the  election.  Greeley  was  mistaken  as  to  New  York 
only  in  making  the  Republican  majority  one-third  less  than 
it  turned  up  on  election  night,  when  Fremont  had  nearly  as 
many  votes  as  Buchanan  and  Fillmore  combined. 

The  nomination  of  Fremont  was  engineered  by  some  of 
the  shrewdest  of  the  old  Democratic  leaders,  most  conspicu- 
ous of  whom  was  the  elder  Francis  P.  Blair,  who  had  been 
one  of  the  most  sagacious  of  the  Democratic  politicians 
during  the  administrations  of  Jackson,  Van  Buren,  and 
Polk.  They  believed  it  best  to  take  a  candidate  for  the 
Presidency  who  had  no  political  record  whatever  to  antago- 
nize the  conflicting  political  views  which  must  be  united  to 
give  the  party  success ;  and  Fremont  was  young,  had  served 
in  the  army  with  credit,  had  made  what  then  were  regarded 
as  wonderful  explorations  in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  had 
the  distinction  of  having  been  forced  to  retire  from  the 
army  for  what  was  claimed  to  have  been  conspicuously 
heroic  and  patriotic  action  on  his  part.  He  had  never  said 
anything  or  done  anything  to  offend  any  political  prejudice. 
It  turned  out  that  he  was  strongest  where  he  was  least 
known.  The  old  California  Forty-niners,  who  were  back  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  some  of  them  prominent  in  politics,  did 
not  enthuse  over  Fremont's  nomination.  I  distinctly  recollect 
the  trite  summing  up  of  Fremont's  qualities  by  one  who  had 
been  with  him  in  California  by  saying :  "  Fremont  is  a 

137 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

millionaire  without  a  dollar,  a  soldier  who  never  fought  a 
battle,  and  a  statesman  who  never  made  a  speech ;"  but  that 
his  nomination  was  altogether  the  strongest  that  could  have 
been  made  in  the  Philadelphia  convention  cannot  be  doubted 
by  any  who  study  the  history  of  that  contest  and  the  marvel- 
lous political  revolution  it  wrought.  Henry  S.  Lane,  of  In- 
diana, presided  over  the  convention,  and  a  single  ballot  was 
had  for  President,  as  follows: 


STATES. 


Fremont. 


McLean. 


Maine 13 

New  Hampshire 15 

Vermont 15 

Massachusetts 39 

Rhode  Island 12 

Connecticut 18 

New  York 93 

New  Jersey 7 

Pennsylvania 10 

Delaware 

Maryland 4 

Ohio 30 

Indiana 18 

Illinois 14 

Michigan 18 

Wisconsin 15 

Iowa 12 

Minnesota 

Kansas 9 

Nebraska 

Kentucky 5 

California 12 

Totals..  359 


11 


3 

14 

71 

9 

3 

39 

21 

19 


196 


The  nomination  of  Fremont  was  made  unanimous  with 
great  enthusiasm,  and  there  was  only  one  ballot  for  Vice- 
President,  resulting  as  follows : 


William  L.  Dayton,  N.  J. . .  259 

Abraham  Lincoln,  111 110 

N.  P.  Banks,  Mass 46 

David  Wilmot,  Penn 43 

Charles  Sumner,  Mass 35 

Jacob  Collamer,  Vt 15 

John  A.  King,  N.  Y 9 


S.  C.  Pomeroy,  Kan 8 

Thomas  Ford,  Ohio 7 

Henry  Wilson,  Mass 5 

Cassius  M.  Clay,  Ky 4 

Henry  C.  Carey,  Penn 3 

Wm.  F.  Johnston,  Penn 2 


138 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

Mr.  Dayton  was  then  declared  the  nominee  of  the  conven- 
tion by  a  unanimous  vote,  and  the  following  platform  was 
adopted : 

This  convention  of  delegates,  assembled  in  pursuance  of  a  call 
addressed  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  without  regard  to  past 
political  differences  or  divisions,  who  are  opposed  to  the  repeal  of 
the  Missouri  Compromise,  to  the  policy  of  the  present  administra- 
tion, to  the  extension  of  slavery  into  Free  Territory;  in  favor  of 
admitting  Kansas  as  a  Free  State,  of  restoring  the  action  of  the 
Federal  Government  to  the  principles  of  Washington  and  Jefferson ; 
and  who  purpose  to  unite  in  presenting  candidates  for  the  offices  of 
President  and  Vice-President,  do  resolve  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  the  maintenance  of  the  principles  promulgated  in 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  embodied  in  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution is  essential  to  the  preservation  of  our  republican  institu- 
tions, and  that  the  Federal  Constitution,  the  rights  of  the  States,  and 
the  union  of  the  States,  shall  be  preserved. 

Resolved,  That  with  our  republican  fathers  we  hold  it  to  be  a 
self-evident  truth,  that  all  men  are  endowed  with  the  unalienable 
rights  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  and  that  the 
primary  object  and  ulterior  designs  of  our  Federal  Government  were 
to  secure  these  rights  to  all  persons  within  its  exclusive  jurisdiction; 
that,  as  our  republican  fathers,  when  they  had  abolished  slavery  in 
all  our  national  territory,  ordained  that  no  person  should  be  deprived 
of  life,  liberty,  or  property  without  due  process  of  law,  it  becomes 
our  duty  to  maintain  this  provision  of  the  Constitution  against  all 
attempts  to  violate  it  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  slavery  in  any 
Territory  of  the  United  States,  by  positive  legislation,  prohibiting 
its  existence  or  extension  therein.  That  we  deny  the  authority  of 
Congress,  of  a  Territorial  Legislature,  of  any  individual  or  associa- 
tion of  individuals,  to  give  legal  existence  to  slavery  in  any  Terri- 
tory of  the  United  States  while  the  present  Constitution  shall  be 
maintained. 

Resolved,  That  the  Constitution  confers  upon  Congress  sovereign  ) 
power  over  the  Territories  of  the  United  States,  for  their  govern-  \ 
ment,  and  that  in  the  exercise  of  this  power  it  is  both  the  right  and  | 
the  duty  of  Congress  to  prohibit  in  the  Territories  those  twin  relics  I 
of  barbarism,  polygamy  and  slavery. 

Resolved,  That  while  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was 
ordained  and  established  by  the  people  in  order  to  form  a  more 
perfect  Union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity,  pro- 
vide for  the  common  defence,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty, 
and  contains  ample  provision  for  the  protection  of  the  life,  liberty, 
and  property  of  every  citizen,  the  dearest  constitutional  rights  of 
the  people  of  Kansas  have  been  fraudulently  and  violently  taken 
from  them ;  their  territory  has  been  invaded  by  an  armed  force ; 
spurious  and  pretended  legislative,  judicial,  and  executive  officers 
have  been  set  over  them,  by  whose  usurped  authority,  sustained  by 
the  military  power  of  the  Government,  tyrannical  and  unconstitu- 
tional laws  have  been  enacted  and  enforced ;  the  rights  of  the 
people  to  keep  and  bear  arms  have  been  infringed;  test  oaths  of 

139 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

an  extraordinary  and  entangling  nature  have  been  imposed  as  a 
condition  of  exercising  the  right  of  suffrage  and  holding  office;  the 
right  of  an  accused  person  to  a  speedy  and  public  trial  by  an  im- 
partial jury  has  been  denied;  the  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure 
in  their  persons,  houses,  papers,  and  effects  against  unreasonable 
searches  and  seizures  has  been  violated ;  they  have  been  deprived 
of  life,  liberty,  and  property  without  due  process  of  law ;  that  the 
freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press  has  been  abridged ;  the  right  to 
choose  their  representatives  has  been  made  of  no  effect ;  murders, 
robberies,  and  arsons  have  been  instigated  and  encouraged,  and  the 
offenders  have  been  allowed  to  go  unpunished ;  that  all  these  things 
have  been  done  with  the  knowledge,  sanction,  and  procurement  of 
the  present  administration ;  and  that  for  this  high  crime  against  the 
Constitution,  the  Union,  and  humanity,  we  arraign  the  administra- 
tion, the  President,  his  advisers,  agents,  supporters,  apologists,  and 
accessories,  either  before  or  after  the  fact,  before  the  country  and 
before  the  world,  and  that  it  is  our  fixed  purpose  to  bring  the  actual 
perpetrators  of  these  atrocious  outrages,  and  their  accomplices,  to  a 
sure  and  condign  punishment  hereafter. 

Resolved,  That  Kansas  should  be  immediately  admitted  as  a  State 
of  the  Union,  with  her  present  free  Constitution,  as  at  once  the 
most  effectual  way  of  securing  to  her  citizens  the  enjoyment  of  the 
rights  and  privileges  to  which  they  are  entitled,  and  of  ending  the 
civil  strife  now  raging  in  her  territory. 

Resolved,  That  the  highwayman's  plea,  that  "  might  makes  right," 
embodied  in  the  Ostend  circular,  was  in  every  respect  unworthy  of 
American  diplomacy,  and  would  bring  shame  and  dishonor  upon  any 
government  or  people  that  gave  it  their  sanction. 

Resolved,  That  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  by  the  most  central 
and  practical  route,  is  imperatively  demanded  by  the  interests  of  the 
whole  country,  and  that  the  Federal  Government  ought  to  render 
immediate  and  efficient  aid  in  its  construction;  and,  as  an  auxiliary 
thereto,  the  immediate  construction  of  an  emigrant  route  on  the  line 
of  the  railroad. 

Resolved,  That  appropriations  by  Congress  for  the  improvement 
of  rivers  and  harbors,  of  a  national  character,  required  for  the  ac- 
commodation and  security  of  pur  existing  commerce,  are  authorized 
by  the  Constitution,  and  justified  by  the  obligation  of  Government 
to  protect  the  lives  and  property  of  its  citizens. 


The  American  or  Know-Nothing  party  had  become  the 
leading  factor  of  the  opposition  elements  to  Democracy  in  the 
elections  of  1854-55.  In  some  sections  the  Whig  party  was 
entirely  obliterated,  and  in  the  South  there  was  no  organiza- 
tion opposed  to  Democracy  but  the  American.  The  cardinal 
principle  of  its  faith  was  that  "  Americans  must  rule 
America,"  and  its  opposition  to  the  Catholic  Church  was  pos- 
itive and  pronounced.  It  had  gravitated  from  the  original 
Native  Americans  of  1844  into  the  Order  of  United  Ameri- 
cans, and  it  coalesced  with  the  remnants  of  the  Whig  party 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

and  with  the  antiadministration  Democrats  in  most  of  the 
Northern  States.  It  had  reached  about  its  highest  measure 
of  strength  in  1855,  chiefly  because  of  its  strong  hold  in  the 
South.  In  New  England  and  the  far  Western  States  the 
Americans  had  been  very  generally  absorbed  in  the  Repub- 
lican organization  when  the  battle  opened  for  the  Presidency 
in  1856. 

The  American  National  Council  was  called  to  meet  in  Phil- 
adelphia on  the  I9th  of  February,  1856,  and  nearly  all  the 
States  were  represented.  The  Council  was  a  secret  body,  in 
accordance  with  the  usages  of  the  party.  After  three  days 
of  animated  discussion  it  adopted  a  party  platform,  and  on 
the  22d  of  February  the  Council  adjourned  and  organized 
the  American  National  Nominating  Convention.  Ephraim 
Marsh,  of  New  Jersey,  was  made  president.  An  earnest 
effort  was  made  in  the  convention  to  antagonize  the  right  of 
the  National  Council  to  make  the  platform  for  the  party. 
Mr.  Killinger,  of  Pennsylvania,  offered  a  resolution,  declar- 
ing that  the  Council  had  no  authority  to  prescribe  a  platform 
of  principles,  and  that  the  convention  should  nominate  no 
man  for  President  or  Vice-President  "  who  is  not  in  favor  of 
interdicting  the  introduction  of  slavery  into  territory  North 
36°  30'  by  Congressional  action,"  but  his  proposition  failed 
by  a  vote  of  141  to  59.  The  failure  of  this  resolution  led  to 
the  retirement  from  the  convention  of  the  more  pronounced 
antislavery  delegates  or  North  Americans,  as  they  were 
called.  The  convention  then  proceeded  to  ballot  for  Presi- 
dent as  follows : 


1st 
Ballot. 

2d 

Ballot. 

M.  Fillmore,  New  York  

71 

179 

George  Law,  New  York  

27 

24 

Garrett  Davis,  Kentucky. 

13 

10 

John  McLean,  Ohio. 

7 

13 

R.  F.  Stockton,  New  Jersey  

8 

Sam.  Houston    Texas 

6 

3 

John  Bell,  Tennessee 

5 

Kenneth  Raynor,  North  Carolina  . 

2 

14 

Erastus  Brooks,  New  York.    . 

2 

Lewis  D.  Campbell,  Ohio        

1 

John  M.  Clayton,  Delaware  

1 

141 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

After  the  2d  ballot,  Mr.  Fillmore  was  unanimously  de- 
clared the  nominee,  and  on  the  1st  ballot  Andrew  Jackson 
Donelson,  of  Tennessee,  who  was  the  adopted  son  of  General 
Jackson,  was  nominated  for  Vice-President,  receiving  181 
votes  to  8  for  Governor  Gardner,  of  Massachusetts,  8  for 
Percy  Walker,  of  Alabama,  and  8  for  Kenneth  Raynor,  of 
North  Carolina.  The  following  platform  was  then  unani- 
mously adopted : 


1.  An  humble  acknowledgment  of    the    Supreme    Being,  for    his 
protecting  care  vouchsafed  to  our  fathers  in  their  successful  Revolu- 
tionary struggle,  and  hitherto  manifested  to  us,  their  descendants, 
in  the  preservation  of  their  liberties,  the  independence  and  the  union 
of  these  States. 

2.  The  perpetuation  of  the  Federal  Union  and   Constitution,   as 
the  palladium  of  our  civil  and  religious  liberties  and  the  only  sure 
bulwark  of  American  independence. 

3.  Americans   must  rule   America;   and   to  this   end  native-born 
citizens    should    be    selected    for    all    State,  Federal  and  municipal 
offices    of    Government    employment,  in    preference    to    all    others. 
Nevertheless, 

4.  Persons  born  of  American  parents  residing  temporarily  abroad 
should  be  entitled  to  all  the  rights  of  native-born  citizens. 

5.  No  person  should  be  selected  for  political  station   (whether  of 
native  or  foreign  birth)  who  recognizes  any  allegiance  or  obligation 
of  any  description  to  any  foreign  prince,  potentate,  or  power,  or  who 
refuses    to    recognize    the    Federal    and    State    Constitutions   (each 
within  its  sphere)  as  paramount  to  all  other  laws  as  rules  of  political 
action. 

6.  The  unqualified  recognition  and  maintenance  of  the  reserved 
rights  of  the  several  States,   and  the  cultivation  of  harmony  and 
fraternal  good-will  between  the  citizens  of  the  several  States,  and, 
to  this  end,  non-interference  by  Congress  with  questions  appertain- 
ing solely  to  the  individual   States,   and  non-intervention  by  each 
State  with  the  affairs  of  any  other  State. 

7.  The  recognition  of  the   right  of  native-born  and   naturalized 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  permanently  residing  in  any  Territory 
thereof,  to  frame  their  constitution  and  laws,  and  to  regulate  their 
domestic  and  social  affairs  in  their  own  mode,  subject  only  to  the 
provisions  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  with  the  privilege  of  admis- 
sion into  the  Union  whenever  they  have  the  requisite  population  for 
one  representative  in   Congress;   provided,   ahvays,   that  none  but 
those  who  are  citizens  of  the  United  States,  under  the  Constitution 
and  laws  thereof,  and  who  have  a  fixed  residence  in  any  such  Ter- 
ritory, ought  to  participate  in  the  formation  of  a  constitution  or  in 
the  enactment  of  laws  for  said  Territory  or  State. 

8.  An  enforcement  of  the  principle  that  no   State  or  Territory 
ought  to  admit  others  than  citizens  to  the  right  of  suffrage,  or  of 
holding  political  offices  of  the  United  States. 

9.  A  change  in  the  laws  of  naturalization,   making  a  continued 
residence  of  twenty-one  years,  of  all  not  heretofore  provided  for,  an 

142 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

• 

indispensable  requisite  for  citizenship  hereafter,  and  excluding  all 
paupers  and  persons  convicted  of  crime  from  landing  upon  our 
shores ;  but  no  interference  with  the  vested  rights  of  foreigners. 

10.  Opposition  to  any  union  between  Church  and  State;  no  inter- 
ference with  religious  faith  or  worship,  and  no  test  oaths  for  office. 

11.  Free  and    thorough    investigation    into    any  and    all    alleged 
abuses  of  public  functionaries,  and  a  strict  economy  in  public  ex- 
penditures. 

12.  The  maintenance  and  enforcement  of  all  laws  constitutionally 
enacted,  until  said   laws   shall   be  repealed  or  shall  be  declared  null 
and  void  by  competent  judicial  authority. 

13.  Opposition  to  the  reckless  and  unwise  policy  of  the  present 
administration  in  the  general  management  of    our    national  affairs, 
and  more  especially  as  shown  in  removing  "Americans"  (by  designa- 
tion)   and  conservatives  in  principle  from  office,  and  placing  for- 
eigners and  ultraists  in  their  places ;  as  shown  in  a  truckling  sub- 
serviency to  the  stronger,   and  an  insolent  and  cowardly  bravado 
toward  the  weaker  powers ;  as  shown  in  reopening  sectional  agita- 
tion, by  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise ;  as  shown  in  grant- 
ing to  unnaturalized  foreigners  the  right  of  suffrage  in  Kansas  and 
Nebraska;  as  shown  in  its  vacillating  course  on  the  Kansas  and 
Nebraska  question ;  as  shown  in  the  corruptions  which  pervade  some 
of    the    departments  of    the  Government;    as    shown  in  disgracing 
meritorious    naval    officers    through    prejudice  or  caprice ;  and  as 
shown  in  the  blundering  mismanagement  of  our  foreign  relations. 

14.  Therefore,  to  remedy  existing  evils,  and  to  prevent  the  disas- 
trous consequences  otherwise  resulting  therefrom,  we  would  build 
up  the  "American  party"  upon  the  principles  hereinbefore  stated. 

15.  That  each  State  Council  shall  have  authority  to  amend  their 
several  constitutions,  so  as  to  abolish  the  several  degrees,  and  sub- 
stitute a  pledge  of  honor,  instead  of  other  obligations,  for  fellowship 
and  admission  into  the  party. 

16.  A    free   and   open   discussion   of   all   political   principles   em- 
braced in  our  platform. 

The  seceding  delegates,  consisting  of  the  antislavery  wing 
of  the  party  and  small  in  number,  organized  a  convention 
of  their  own,  and  without  the  formality  of  a  ballot,  nom- 
inated John  C.  Fremont,  of  California,  for  President,  and 
Ex-Governor  William  F.  Johnston,  of  Pennsylvania,  for 
Vice-President,  but  they  finally  supported  Fremont  and  Day- 
ton. 

The  fragments  of  the  old  Whig  party  met  in  national  con- 
vention at  Baltimore  on  the  I7th  of  September,  in  which  26 
States  were  raggedly  represented.  Edward  Bates,  of  Mis- 
souri, presided  over  the  convention,  and  the  proceedings 
were  uneventful.  Fillmore  and  Donelson,  the  candidates 
nominated  by  the  American  party,  were  unanimously  nomi- 
nated for  President  and  Vice-President  by  resolution,  and 
the  following  platform  adopted : 

143 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Resolved,  That  the  Whigs  of  the  United  States,  now  here  as- 
sembled, hereby  declare  their  reverence  for  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  their  unalterable  attachment  to  the  national  Union, 
and  a  fixed  determination  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  preserve  them 
for  themselves  and  their  posterity.  They  have  no  new  principles  to 
announce,  no  new  platform  to  establish,  but  are  content  to  broadly 
rest — where  their  -fathers  rested — upon  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  wishing  no  safer  guide,  no  higher  law. 

Resolved,  That  we  regard  with  the  deepest  interest  and  anxiety 
the  present  disordered  condition  of  our  national  affairs — a  portion 
of  the  country  ravaged  by  civil  war,  large  sections  of  our  popula- 
tion embittered  by  mutual  recriminations ;  and  we  distinctly  trace 
these  calamities  to  the  culpable  neglect  of  duty  by  the  present 
national  administration. 

Resolved,  That  the  Government  of  the  United  States  was  formed 
by  the  conjunction  in  political  unity  of  widespread  geographical 
sections,  materially  differing  not  only  in  climate  and  products,  but 
in  social  and  domestic  institutions;  and  that  any  cause  that  shall 
permanently  array  the  different  sections  of  the  Union  in  political 
hostility  and  organized  parties,  founded  only  on  geographical  dis- 
tinctions, must  inevitably  prove  fatal  to  a  continuance  of  the  national 
Union. 

Resolved,  That  the  Whigs  of  the  United  States  declare,  as  a 
fundamental  rule  of  political  faith,  an  absolute  necessity  for  avoid- 
ing geographical  parties.  The  danger  so  clearly  discerned  by  the 
Father  of  his  Country  has  now  become  fearfully  apparent  in  the 
agitation  now  convulsing  the  nation,  and  must  be  arrested  at  once 
if  we  would  preserve  our  Constitution  and  our  Union  from  dis- 
memberment, and  the  name  of  America  from  being  blotted  out  from 
the  family  of  civilized  nations. 

Resolved,  That  all  who  revere  the  Constitution  and  the  Union 
must  look  with  alarm  at  the  parties  in  the  field  in  the  present  Presi- 
dential campaign — one  claiming  only  to  represent  sixteen  Northern 
States,  and  the  other  appealing  mainly  to  the  passions  and  prejudices 
of  the  Southern  States;  that  the  success  of  either  faction  must  add 
fuel  to  the  flame  which  now  threatens  to  wrap  our  dearest  interests 
in  a  common  ruin. 

Resolved,  That  the  only  remedy  for  an  evil  so  appalling  is  to 
support  a  candidate  pledged  to  neither  of  the  geographical  sections 
now  arrayed  in  political  antagonism,  but  holding  both  in  a  just  and 
equal  regard.  We  congratulate  the  friends  of  the  Union  that  such 
a  candidate  exists  in  Millard  Fillmore. 

Resolved,  That,  without  adopting  or  referring  to  the  peculiar 
doctrines  of  the  party  which  has  already  selected  Mr.  Fillmore  as  a 
candidate,  we  look  to  him  as  a  well-tried  and  faithful  friend  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  Union,  eminent  alike  for  his  wisdom  and  firm- 
ness;  for  his  justice  and  moderation  in  our  foreign  relations;  for 
his  calm  and  pacific  temperament,  so  well  becoming  the  head  of  a 
great  nation;  for  his  devotion  to  the  Constitution  in  its  true  spirit; 
his  inflexibility  in  executing  the  laws ;  but,  beyond  all  these  attri- 
butes, in  possessing  the  one  transcendant  merit  of  being  a  representa- 
tive of  neither  of  the  two  sectional  parties  now  struggling  for  polit- 
ical supremacy. 

Resolved,  That,    in  the   present   exigency  of   political    affairs,  we 

144 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

are  not  called  upon  to  discuss  the  subordinate  questions  of  adminis- 
tration in  the  exercising  of  the  constitutional  powers  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. It  is  enough  to  know  that  civil  war  is  raging,  and  that  the 
Union  is  imperilled ;  and  we  proclaim  the  conviction  that  the 
restoration  of  Mr.  Fillmore  to  the  Presidency  will  furnish  the  best  if 
not  the  only  means  of  restoring  peace. 

The  campaign  of  1856  was  one  of  the  most  desperately 
fought  conflicts  in  the  history  of  American  politics.  In  some 
of  the  Northern  States,  and  particularly  in  Pennsylvania, 
that  had  to  be  carried  against  Buchanan  in  October  to  give 
promise  of  his  defeat,  the  American  party,  or  the  supporters 
of  Fillmore  and  Donelson,  were  nearly  or  quite  as  strong  as 
the  distinctive  Republicans.  Both  were  opposed  to  the  elec- 
tion of  Buchanan,  but  they  were  wide  apart  not  only  on  the 
slavery  issue,  but  on  the  questions  of  citizenship  and  re- 
ligious proscription.  As  the  contest  warmed  up  the  neces- 
sity for  some  sort  of  union  between  these  elements  was  ac- 
cepted on  both  sides,  and  in  Pennsylvania,  Illinois,  Indiana, 
and  some  other  States  the  Americans,  Republicans,  and  old 
Whigs  united  on  State  tickets.  Illinois,  while  it  gave  its 
electoral  vote  to  Buchanan,  elected  Colonel  Bissell,  an  anti- 
slavery  and  anti-Buchanan  Democrat,  Governor,  and  in 
Pennsylvania  the  Democratic  ticket  was  successful  in  Octo- 
ber only  by  a  very  small  majority. 

In  several  of  the  States  they  harmonized  on  an  electoral 
ticket.  They  did  it  by  printing  two  electoral  tickets  for  the 
two  wings  of  the  opposition.  On  one  ticket  the  first  can- 
didate for  elector  was  John  C.  Fremont,  and  on  the  other 
ticket  was  the  name  of  Millard  Fillmore.  The  understand- 
ing was  that  if  the  Union  electoral  ticket  succeeded,  the  en- 
tire vote,  less  the  one  lost  by  using  the  names  of  Fillmore  and 
Fremont,  should  be  cast  for  either  candidate  if  thereby  he 
could  be  elected,  and  if  such  united  vote  would  not  elect 
either  candidate  the  vote  was  to  be  divided  between  Fillmore 
and  Fremont,  as  the  voters  indicated  by  the  first  name  at  the 
head  of  the  ticket. 

In  common  with  the  great  mass  of  conservative  Whigs 
who  were  at  first  greatly  disappointed  in  the  nomination  of 
Fremont  and  the  radical  attitude  of  the  new  Republican 
party,  I  gradually  drifted  into  the  contest  because  of  the 
offensive  deliverances  on  slavery  made  by  the  Cincinnati 
platform.  I  knew  Mr.  Buchanan  personally,  and  if  I  could 
have  obeyed  my  individual  preferences  as  to  a  candidate, 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

would  have  voted  for  him.  The  slavery  issue  soon  became  so 
sharply  defined  that  the  great  mass  of  the  Whigs  of  the 
North  fell  in  to  the  support  of  Fremont.  There  was  consid- 
erable defection  of  prominent  Whigs  in  Buchanan's  State, 
embracing  the  Reeds,  the  Ingersolls,  the  Whartons,  the  Ran- 
dalls, and  others  of  Philadelphia,  whose  conservative  Whig 
views,  with  their  great  personal  respect  for  Buchanan,  in- 
fluenced them  to  support  him.  Buchanan  was  not  a  mag- 
netic man,  not  a  popular  man  in  the  common  acceptation  of 
the  term,  but  he  was  respected  by  all  not  only  for  his  ability, 
but  for  his  integrity  and  generally  blameless  reputation.  He 
was  a  very  courteous  gentleman,  but  the  multitude  did  not 
rush  into  his  arms  as  it  did  into  the  arms  of  Clay  and  Blaine, 
and  it  is  quite  probable  that  his  bachelor  life,  a  destiny  given 
him  by  a  devotion  with  tragic  end,  doubtless  made  him  less 
genial  than  he  might  have  been. 

Pennsylvania  was  the  pivotal  State  in  the  contest,  and 
Colonel  Forney  was  chairman  of  the  Democratic  State  Com- 
mittee. He  was  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  political  situa- 
tion, and  greatly  impaired  his  health  by  his  exhaustive  ef- 
forts to  save  Buchanan  in  his  home  State.  His  relations  with 
Buchanan  were  of  the  closest  and  most  confidential  nature, 
and  each  implicitly  trusted  the  other.  Buchanan  knew  For- 
ney's ability  in  the  management  of  a  great  political  battle, 
and  there  was  no  concealment  between  them  as  to  the  reward 
Forney  should  receive  if  Buchanan  succeeded.  Forney's 
ambition  was  to  continue  in  journalism,  and  it  was  not  only 
understood,  but  the  assurance  voluntarily  given  to  Forney  by 
Buchanan, that  if  Buchanan  became  President,  Forney  should 
conduct  the  national  organ  in  Washington  and  receive  the 
Senate  printing.  What  was  then  known  as  the  Senate  print- 
ing was  an  abuse  that  had  grown  up  from  small  to  large  pro- 
portions until  it  became  a  fortune  to  any  man  who  received 
it  during  the  period  of  an  administration.  Gales  and  Seaton, 
of  the  National  Intelligencer,  had  enjoyed  it  for  many  years, 
and  when  Democratic  administrations  became  more  dis- 
tinctly partisan  the  favoritism  was  continued  and  the  profits 
magnified.  It  was  deemed  a  necessity  for  each  administra- 
tion to  have  an  organ,  and  it  was  accepted  in  those  days  as 
the  Democratic  oracle  of  the  nation.  By  making  Forney  the 
editor  of  the  administration  organ  at  Washington  with  the 
Senate  printing,  his  highest  ambition  in  his  journalistic  ca- 
reer would  have  been  gratified,  with  ample  fortune  added. 

146 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

So  intimate  were  Buchanan  and  Forney,  that  Forney's  fam- 
ily spent  part  of  the  summer  at  Wheatland,  where  Forney 
would  occasionally  tarry  for  a  day's  rest  and  to  consult  with 
his  chief. 

Both  parties  were  very  confident  of  carrying  the  State  in 
October,  but  Forney  outgeneralled  the  leaders  of  the  Union 
ticket  by  his  masterful  manipulation  of  Philadelphia,  and  the 
Buchanan  State  ticket  was  successful  in  October  by  3500 
majority.  Had  the  Buchanan  State  ticket  been  defeated, 
Buchanan's  defeat  for  President  would  have  been  clearly 
foreshadowed,  as  it  would  doubtless  have  made  a  successful 
union  on  the  electoral  tickets  in  New  Jersey,  Indiana,  and 
Illinois,  as  had  already  been  done  in  Pennsylvania.  Not- 
withstanding the  loss  of  Pennsylvania  in  October,  the  friends 
of  Fremont  and  Fillmore  made  desperate  efforts  to  carry  the 
State  in  November,  and  so  well  did  they  fight  their  battle  that 
Buchanan's  majority  in  the  State  over  the  combined  vote  of 
Fremont  and  Fillmore  was  only  1025.  The  Fremont  and 
Fillmore  people  believed  that  they  had  been  defrauded  out 
of  the  October  election  in  Pennsylvania,  and  Forney  was 
denounced  with  extreme  bitterness  that  had  lost  none  of  its 
intensity  in  the  Senatorial  fight  of  1857,  when  the  resent- 
ments of  the  opposition  made  Forney's  defeat  for  Senator 
possible  in  a  Democratic  Legislature. 

Buchanan,  Fremont,  and  Fillmore  each  bore  themselves 
with  great  dignity  during  the  campaign.  Fillmore  was  not  in 
sympathy  with  Buchanan,  but  he  had  even  less  sympathy  for 
Fremont  and  the  radical  Republican  policy  he  represented. 
Fremont  made  his  home  during  the  contest  in  New  York, 
under  the  strictest  orders  not  to  discuss  any  political  ques- 
tion, either  orally  or  by  letter,  with  any  outside  of  those  in 
charge  of  his  campaign.  Along  with  several  others,  I  called 
upon  him  at  his  home  some  time  before  the  election,  simply 
to  pay  our  respects  to  the  man  we  were  supporting  for  Presi- 
dent, and  he  was  so  extremely  cautious  that  he  evaded  the 
most  ordinary  expressions  relating  to  the  conduct  and  pros- 
pects of  the  battle.  He  impressed  me  as  possessing  a 
stronger  individuality  than  I  had  credited  him  with,  and  his 
enforced  policy  of  silence  made  him  appear  as  a  severely  dig- 
nified gentleman  with  strong  intellectual  possibilities.  But 
considering  the  record  he  made  in  the  early  part  of  the  war, 
when  he  had,  for  the  first  time,  opportunity  to  display  his 
abilities,  there  are  few  who  will  not  feel  that  his  election  to 

147 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


the  Presidency  might  have  been  equally  disastrous  to  him- 
self and  to  the  country. 

The  battle  ended  by  the  election  of  Buchanan,  although 
Fremont  carried  the  New  England  States  and  New  York 
and  the  Northwestern  Democratic  States  with  the  whirl  of 
the  tempest.  The  following  table  exhibits  the  popular  and 
electoral  vote : 


STATES. 

POPULAR  VOTE. 

ELECTORAL 
VOTE. 

James  Buchanan, 
Democrat. 

John  C.  Fremont, 
Republican. 

Millard  Fillmore, 
American  and 
Whig. 

ij 

o 
> 

1 

a 

P 

i 

,c 

§ 

M 

9 

4 
4 

3 
3 
10 
11 
13 

12 
6 

7 
9 

7 
10 

27 

8 
12 
4 

15 
174 

§ 

B 

fe 

6 

1  1  1  i  1  1  |  Fillmore. 

Alabama  

46,739 
21,910 
53,365 
34,995 
8,004 
6,358 
56,578 
105,348 
118,670 
36,170 
74,642 
22,164 
39,080 
39,115 
39,240 
52,136 
35,446 
58,164 
32,789 
46,943 
195,878 
48,246 
170,874 
230,710 
6,680 

20,691 
42,715 
308 

28,552 
10,787 
36,165 
2,615 
6,175 
4,833 
42,228 
37,444 
22,386 
9,180 
67,416 
20,709 
3,325 
47,460 
19,626 
1,660 
24,195 
48,524 
422 
24,115 
124,604 
36,886 
28,126 
82,175 
1,675 

75,291 
32,697 
110,221 
80,325 
14,487 
11,191 
98,806 
238,981 
235,431 
89,304 
142,372 
42,873 
109,784 
86,856 
167,056 
125,558 
59,641 
106,688 
71,556 
99,396 
596,489 
85,132 
386,497 
460,395 
19,822 

Arkansas 

California 

Connecticut  . 

Delaware  

Florida 

Georgia 

Illinois         .  . 

96,189 
94,375 
43,954 
314 

4 

— 

Indiana 

Iowa       .  .       .     . 

Kentucky.  .  . 

Maine  

67,379 

281 
108,190 
71,762 

8 

13 
6 

8 

Maryland  

Massachusetts 

Michigan 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

New  Hampshire.  .  . 
New  Jersey  

38,345 
28,338 
276,007 

187,497 
147,510 
11,467 

5 

35 
23 
4 

— 

New  York 

North  Carolina.  .  .  . 
Ohio  . 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode  Island    .    . 

South  Carolina*.. 
Tennessee 

73,638 
31,169 
10,569 
89,706 
52,843 

66,178 
15,639 
545 
60,310 
579 

139,816 
46,808 
50,675 
150,307 
119,512 

Texas 

— 

Vermont 

39,561 
291 
66,090 

5 
5 

Virginia  

Wisconsin  

Total    

1,838,169 

1,341,264 

874,534 

4,053,967 

114 

8 

*  Th'e  electors  were  chosen  by  the  legislature, 


148 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

A  quarrel  between  Buchanan  and  Forney  was  more  far- 
reaching  in  its  results  than  can  well  be  estimated  by  those 
not  entirely  familiar  with  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  the 
dispute.  During  the  campaign,  Buchanan,  greatly  pressed 
with  the  increased  correspondence  that  came  to  him,  asked 
Forney  to  send  him  a  competent  and  trustworthy  secretary, 
and  Buchanan,  for  the  first  time,  abandoned  his  uniform  pol- 
icy of  writing  all  his  own  letters  in  clear,  beautiful  copper- 
plate style.  Forney  sent  one  of  his  own  assistants  to  aid 
Buchanan,  and  having  charge  of  Buchanan's  correspondence 
he  became  cognizant  of  the  fact  that  the  Southern  leaders 
were  very  generally  and  earnestly  demanding  of  Buchanan 
the  pledge  that  Forney  should  not  be  made  editor  of  the  ad- 
ministration organ. 

Buchanan  parried  the  appeals  of  the  Southern  friends  for 
some  time,  but  finally,  knowing  that  his  election  depended 
upon  a  united  South,  they  became  mandatory,  and  Buchanan, 
without  advising  Forney  of  the  fact,  finally  gave  his  pledge 
that  Forney  should  not  be  chosen.  The  secretary  was  in- 
dignant at  this  betrayal  of  his  friend,  and  quietly  sought  For- 
ney, advised  him  of  the  fact  and  expressed  his  purpose  not 
to  return.  Forney  required  the  secretary  to  go  back  and 
perform  his  duties  and  take  no  note  of  what  had  happened. 
He  was  greatly  disappointed,  as  it  denied  him  what  was  the 
great  ambition  of  his  life,  involving  editorial  distinction  and 
fortune,  but  he  believed  that  Buchanan  had  yielded  to  im- 
perious necessity  and  that  he  would  not  be  allowed  to  suffer 
from  the  change. 

It  was  not  until  after  the  election  that  Buchanan  informed 
Forney  of  the  necessity  of  making  a  change  in  his  reward, 
and  Forney  proposed  to  accept  a  position  in  the  Cabinet,  to 
which  Buchanan  would  have  willingly  consented,  but  the 
same  intense  opposition  to  Forney  as  a  Cabinet  officer  surged 
against  him  from  the  South.  It  was  next  proposed  by  Bu- 
chanan that  Forney  should  take  the  Berlin  mission  with  a  lib- 
eral commercial  salary  added,  but  Mrs.  Forney  peremptorily 
refused  to  entertain  it.  It  was  finally  agreed  that  Forney 
should  be  elected  to  the  Senate.  The  Democrats  had  a  ma- 
jority of  three  on  joint  ballot,  and  it  was  not  doubted  that 
any  Democrat  nominated  by  the  caucus  would  be  chosen. 
Henry  D.  Foster,  a  very  prominent  Democrat,  who  had  been 
in  Congress  and  who  was  the  Democratic  candidate  for  Gov- 
ernor in  1860,  was  a  member  of  the  House.  He  was  a  can- 
didate for  Senator,  and  doubtless  would  have  been  chosen 

149 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

had  Forney  not  been  suddenly  injected  into  the  field.  It  was 
not  until  the  Legislature  was  about  to  meet  that  Forney's 
candidacy  was  decided  upon.  It  required  very  prompt  and 
positive  action  to  secure  the  nomination  of  Forney,  and 
Buchanan,  with  all  his  extreme  caution  under  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances, wrote  a  letter  to  Senator  Mott  urging  the  election 
of  Forney.  That  letter  became  public  and  greatly  exas- 
perated the  friends  of  the  other  candidates,  but  a  new  Demo- 
cratic administration  with  the  President  from  the  State  and 
just  on  the  threshold  of  great  political  power  was  able  to 
command  the  nomination  for  Forney,  and  it  was  accom- 
plished, but  leaving  many  open  sores. 

The  Republicans  and  Americans  of  the  Legislature  were 
smarting  under  what  they  regarded  as  the  fraud  that  Forney 
engineered  to  give  the  State  to  Buchanan,  and  they  were 
quite  willing  to  join  any  movenient  to  defeat  him.  General 
Cameron  had  come  into  the  Republican  party  in  1856,  and 
was  at  the  head  of  the  electoral  ticket,  and  he  had  a  very 
strong  hold  upon  some  old  Democratic  friends.  He  pro- 
posed to  the  Republicans  and  Americans  of  the  Legislature 
that  if  they  would  give  him  a  united  vote  he  could  command 
three  Democratic  votes  and  be  elected.  The  Union  caucus, 
as  it  was  called,  appointed  a  committee  to  whom  three  Demo- 
crats must  be  shown  and  give  their  pledges  to  vote  for 
Cameron,  and  if  such  report  was  made  back  to  the  caucus 
by  the  committee,  without  giving  the  names  of  the  Demo- 
crats who  were  to  vote  for  Cameron,  the  Republicans  were 
pledged  to  vote  unitedly  for  Cameron  on  the  1st  ballot. 
The  committee  saw  Representatives  Lebo,  Maneer,  and 
Wagonseller,  Democrats,  who  pledged  themselves  to  vote 
for  Cameron  if  they  could  elect  him,  and  to  the  surprise  of 
all  parties  except  the  very  few  who  understood  the  arrange- 
ment, Cameron  was  elected  Senator  and  Forney  suffered 
a  most  humiliating  defeat. 

After  Forney's  defeat  for  Senator,  it  became  much  more 
difficult  than  even  before  for  Buchanan  to  reward  him,  as 
he  doubtless  felt  should  be  done.  Efforts  were  made  to  give 
him  a  liberal  share  of  the  post-office  printing,  but  Forney  and 
Buchanan  were  gradually  becoming  estranged,  and  finally 
Forney  decided  that  he  could  not  harmonize  with  Buchanan 
and  his  friends,  and  that  he  would  renew  his  journalistic  ca- 
reer on  independent  lines.  The  result  was  the  establishment 
of  the  Philadelphia  Press. 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

The  slavery  issue  speedily  divided  Douglas  and  Buchanan, 
and  Forney  had  his  opportunity.  He  had  suffered  much 
from  the  prescriptive  hatred  of  the  South,  and  he  became 
Douglas's  ablest  and  most  enthusiastic  supporter  in  the 
North,  which  brought  him  into  direct  antagonism  with 
Buchanan.  From  the  time  that  battle  began,  Forney  and 
Buchanan  were  strangers  during  the  remainder  of  their  lives, 
and  no  one  man  did  more  to  educate  the  North  up  to  the  elec- 
tioji  of  Abraham  Lincoln  than  John  W.  Forney. 

[We  are  told  that  the  political  methods  of  the  present  age 
aregreatly  degenerate  as  compared  with  the  political  meth- 
ods of  the  old-school  leaders,  of  which  Buchanan  was  about 
the  last  representative  in  the  White  House.  It  will  surprise 
many  of  the  present  day  to  be  told  that  Buchanan  gave  per- 
sonal attention  not  only  to  organize  county  leaders  in  his  sup- 
port for  the  Presidency,  but  wrote  elaborate  letters  even  to 
township  leaders.  I  have  in  my  possession  a  number  of  Mr. 
Buchanan's  ante:Presidential  letters,  and  I  think  it  due  to  the 
truth  of  history  to  give  one  of  them  as  a  foot-note  to  illus- 
trate the  politics  of  half  a  century  ago.*  Perry  County,  to 

^Private  and  Confidential. 

WHEATLAND,  NEAR  LANCASTER,  12  DEC.,  1851. 

MY  DEAR  SIR:  A  friend  from  Cumberland  County,  who  has  re- 
cently been  in  Perry,  expresses  much  doubt  about  your  county  and 
says  that  unless  strong  efforts  shall  be  made,  it  will  go  for  Cass.  I 
understand  you  elect  by  county  meeting ;  and  this  mode  is  not  a  fair 
method  of  ascertaining  public  opinion  throughout  a  large  county. 
What  can  be  done?  My  enemies  perceiving  that  my  prospects  are 
daily  becoming  brighter  and  brighter  throughout  the  Union  are  now 
intent  upon  producing  such  an  appearance  of  division  at  home  as 
they  imagine  may  deter  other  States  from  voting  for  my  nomination. 
In  this  point  of  view  it  is  important  I  should  carry  Perry,  if  this  can 
be  done  by  fair  and  honorable  means.  Cass,  their  apparent  but  not 
their  real  candidate,  can  now  make  no  show;  but  they  will  go  for 
any  candidate  against  myself.  Pennsylvania  has  now  for  the  first 
time  in  her  history  an  opportunity  of  furnishing  the  candidate, 
should  she  think  proper  to  exert  her  power  with  a  reasonable  degree 
of  unanimity.  I  intend  to  write  to  my  friends  Black  and  Steward; 
but  my  main  reliance  is  on  yourself.  General  Fetter  and  Judge 
Junkin  were  formerly  my  warm  friends — whether  they  are  so  now 
or  not  I  do  not  know.  Are  A.  B.  Anderson  and  young  Mclntire 
my  friends?  I  think  you  once  told  me  they  were.  I  am  informed 
that  young  Miller  is  my  bitter  foe. 

Could  you  make  a  trip  over  the  county  and  ascertain  the  state  of 
public  opinion?  I  should  esteem  it  a  very  great  favor  if  you  would; 
and  in  that  event,  I  should  insist  that  you  shall  not  soend  your  own 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

which  the  letter  refers,  is  a  small  county  adjoining  Franklin, 
the  birthplace  of  Buchanan.  It  had  only  a  single  delegate 
to  the  Democratic  State  Convention,  and,  considering  Bu- 
chanan's location,  he  should  have  been  able  to  command  its 
support  without  special  effort.  The  friend  to  whom  he  wrote 
was  an  Associate  Judge  of  the  county  and  active  in  politics, 
and  when  it  is  remembered  that  this  letter  is  only  one  of  very 
many  written  to  a  single  small  county  to  gain  a  single  del- 
egate for  Buchanan  against  General  Cass,  who  lived  in  a  dis- 
tant State,  the  political  methods  employed  to  reach  the  Presi- 
dency in  that  day  will  be  generally  accepted  as  no  improve- 
ment on  the  methods  now  employed  to  gain  the  highest  hon- 
ors of  the  Republic. 

Buchanan  entered  the  Presidency  earnestly  determined  to 
end  the  slavery  agitation,  but  unfortunately  he  hoped  to  end 
it  by  the  unqualified  success  of  slavery  in  all  of  the  new  Ter- 
ritories and  the  right  of  transit  through  the  free  States  of 
slaves  as  servants.  The  Dred  Scott  decision  was  foreshad- 
owed in  his  inaugural  address,  and  he  and  the  pro-slavery 
statesmen  of  that  time  were  confident  that  the  Republican 
ebullition  of  1856  was  a  mere  tidal  wave  that  would  speedily 
perish,  and  that  the  South  would  be  so  strongly  entrenched 
for  the  defence  of  slavery  that  it  could  not  be  successfully  as- 
sailed. He  was  elected  by  the  South ;  he  was  the  strictest  of 
strict  constructionists  on  all  Constitutional  questions,  and  he 
naturally  sustained  the  South  in  going  far  beyond  what  his 

money  in  supporting  me.  This  would  be  both  unreasonable  and  un- 
just. If  you  could  pass  a  few  days  in  this  manner,  you  would  confer 
a  favor  upon  me  which  I  trust  I  may  some  day  be  able  to  repay. 
But  you  must  not  go  at  all  unless  at  my  expense.  Your  services 
will  place  me  under  obligations  which  I  shall  never  forget  without 
expending  your  own  money  for  my  benefit. 

If  you  should  ascertain  that  the  county  is  against  me  and  cannot 
be  carried,  as  the  Perry  Democrat  indicates,  then  it  would  be  use- 
less to  make  the  effort.  If  it  can  be  carried,  then  we  must  go  to 
work  and  have  the  proper  concert  of  action  to  bring  my  friends  to 
the  county  meeting. 

Will  you  let  me  hear  from  you  soon  on  this  subject,  and  believe  me 
ever  to  be  sincerely  and  gratefully  your  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

HON.  GEORGE  BLATTENBERGER. 

P.S. — Jos.  Bailey,  who  is  a  strange,  capricious  man,  is  now  against 
me,  though  in  1843  he  was  one  of  my  warmest  friends  and  sup- 
porters, as  you  will  perceive  by  the  address  which  I  send  you.  What 
have  I  done  since? 

152 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

judgment  approved  in  the  efforts  to  force  slavery  into  Kan- 
sas and  Nebraska. 

The  strength  of  the  slavery  sentiment  steadily  grew  under 
the  aggravations  of  the  pro-slavery  men  who  sought  to  force 
slavery  into  the  new  Territories  of  the  West,  and  it  was  this 
continued  discussion  and  the  outrages  perpetrated  on  the 
people  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska  that  made  the  election  of  a 
Republican  President  possible  in  1860,  and  that  finally  pre- 
cipitated the  Civil  War.  Buchanan  adhered  to  the  South 
until  open  rebellion  was  organized  by  the  capture  of  forts 
and  arsenals  and  the  organization  of  a  Confederate  govern- 
ment, but  when  he  found  himself  powerless  to  restrain  the 
South  from  armed  rebellion,  he  reorganized  his  Cabinet  and 
exhausted  his  then  wasted  powers  to  bring  the  South  into 
submission  to  the  Government.  He  had  an  aggressively 
loyal  Cabinet  during  the  last  few  months  of  his  administra- 
tion, and  when  he  retired,  generally  denounced  by  the  loyal 
sentiment  of  the  country  as  a  faithless  Executive,  he  ear- 
nestly supported  the  Government  in  every  measure  necessary 
to  suppress  the  rebellion  and  prevent  the  dismemberment  of 
the  Republic.  He  died  soon  after  the  close  of  the  war,  a  thor- 
oughly honest  and  patriotic  public  servant,  but  widely  mis- 
understood. His  revolutionary  Kansas-Nebraska  policy 
made  the  Republican  revolution  of  1860  inevitable,  and  made 
Abraham  Lincoln  President. 


THE  LINCOLN-BRECKENRIDGE- 
DOUGLAS-BELL  CONTEST 

1860 


IN  1860  the  nation  proclaimed  the  third  great  political 
epoch  of  its  history  by  an  aggressive  departure  from  Democ- 
racy to  the  Republicanism  that  has  since  ruled  without 
material  interruption.  There  have  been  two  Democratic 
administrations  since  the  Republican  epoch  of  1860,  but 
though  they,  for  the  time,  halted  and  modified  the  Republican 
policy,  they  never  had  the  power  to  make  a  decisive  reversal 
of  Republican  mastery.  Thus  an  epoch  of  twelve  years  of 
Federalism,  another  of  sixty  years  of  Democracy,  and  an- 
other of  forty  years  of  Republicanism  tell  the  story  of  the 
political  revolutions  of  the  Republic  during  a  period  of  one 
hundred  and  twelve  years. 

When  Fremont  made  his  brilliant  campaign  of  1856  and 
narrowly  escaped  election  to  the  Presidency,  it  was  generally 
accepted  by  all  the  varied  phases  of  politics  opposed  to  radi- 
cal Republicanism  that  the  Republican  movement  was  like  a 
bee — biggest  at  its  birth — and  that  it  never  could  win  a 
national  victory ;  but  all  the  chief  events  affecting  the  polit- 
ical sentiment  of  the  country  from  1856  until  1860  tended  to 
strengthen  Republican  sentiment  and  to  alienate  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  intelligent  elements  of  Democracy.  The  signifi- 
cant elections  of  1858  and  1859,  w^n  tne  Kansas-Nebraska 
war  convulsing  the  country  from  centre  to  circumference, 
steadily  strengthened  Republican  lines,  and  when  the  leaders 
of  the  party  came  to  face  the  great  battle  of  1860  they  well 
understood  that  success  was  within  their  reach,  and  never 
did  a  party  exhibit  greater  sagacity  in  leadership  than  was 
displayed  in  the  convention  that  nominated  Lincoln. 

William  H.  Seward  was  the  confessed  Republican  leader 
of  the  nation.  He  was  admittedly  its  ablest  champion  and 
was  among  its  earliest  supporters.  He  had  been  long  in  the 
Senate,  and  was  the  peer  of  any  in  the  discussion  of  all  the 

154 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

grave  questions  which  then  agitated  our  national  Legisla- 
ture. He  was  not  only  the  ablest  of  his  party,  but  he  was 
one  of  the  most  exemplary  and  courteous  of  men.  Two- 
thirds  of  all  the  delegates  elected  to  that  convention  were 
friends  of  Seward  and  expected  to  vote  for  him,  and  his 
nomination  would  have  been  inevitable  on  the  1st  ballot 
had  not  the  convention  been  restrained  by  considerations  of 
expediency  which  were  most  reluctantly  accepted/  Lincoln's 
own  delegation  from  Illinois  embraced  one-third  of  positive 
Seward  men.  They  were  instructed  for  Lincoln  without 
hope  of  his  nomination  at  the  time,  and  most  of  them  ex- 
pected to  perform  a  mere  perfunctory  duty  by  voting  for  him 
on  one  or  more  ballots. 

Horace  Greeley  had  sounded  the  first  note  of  warning 
against  the  nomination  of  Seward,  and  his  paper,  the  New 
York  Tribune,  was  then  the  most  influential  journal  ever 
published  in  this  country.  It  was  the  Republican  Bible,  and 
its  weekly  edition  was  more  read  in  the  West  than  all  other 
Eastern  papers  combined.  He  startled  the  party  by  a  series 
of  dignified  and  masterly  articles  in  favor  of  Edward  Bates, 
of  Missouri,  for  President,  on  the  ground  that  Seward  was 
not  available,  and  that  a  man  of  the  great  ability  and  conser- 
vative attitude  of  Bates  alone  could  win  in  that  contest.  But 
though  the  conservative  element  of  the  opposition  to  the 
Democracy  was  not  enthusiastic  for  Seward  and  his  "  irre- 
pressible conflict/'  the  true  reason  of  Seward's  defeat  was 
not  presented  either  by  Mr.  Greeley  or  by  any  public  discus- 
sion before  the  meeting  of  the  convention. 

I  have  read  many  romances  about  how,  why  and  by  whom 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  nominated  for  President  at  Chicago, 
but  the  explanation  is  very  simple,  and  when  presented  must 
be  accepted  by  all  as  conclusive.  Henry  S.  Lane  had  been 
nominated  as  the  Republican  candidate  for  Governor  of  In- 
diana, and  Andrew  G.  Curtin  had  been  nominated  by  the  Re- 
publicans for  Governor  of  Pennsylvania.  These  States 
voted  for  Governor  and  other  State  officers  on  the  second 
Tuesday  of  October,  and  they  were  the  pivotal  States  of 
the  national  contest.  It  was  an  absolute  necessity  to  carry 
them  in  October  to  assure  the  election  of  a  Republican  Presi- 
dent, and  the  first  inquiry  of  the  Republican  leaders  at  Chi- 
cago, outside  of  those  who  were  blindly  devoted  to  Seward, 
was  "  Who  can  carry  Indiana  and  Pennsylvania?  " 

Lane  and  Curtin  were  there  solely  for  the  purpose  of  get- 

155 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

ting1  the  strongest  possible  national  ticket  nominated  to  aid 
them  in  their  State  contests.  With  Lane  was  John  D.  De- 
frees,  as  Chairman  of  the  Republican  State  Committee  of 
Indiana,  and  I  was  with  Curtin,  as  he  had  charged  me  with 
the  same  responsible  duty  in  Pennsylvania.  Curtin  and  Lane 
decided  that  they  could  not  be  elected  if  Seward  were  nom- 
inated for  President.  They  were  not  personally  or  politically 
hostile  to  him ;  they  had  but  one  thing  in  view,  and  that  was 
their  own  election,  which  was  essential  to  elect  a  Republican 
President. 

Prior  to  1860  the  Republican  party  had  never  carried  either 
Pennsylvania  or  Indiana.  Opposition  to  the  pro-slavery 
policy  of  the  Buchanan  administration  had  crystallized  anti- 
slavery  Democrats,  Whigs,  and  Americans  into  the  support 
of  Union  State  tickets,  and  had  elected  them ;  but  in  Penn- 
sylvania the  Republican  name  was  omitted  from  necessity, 
and  the  organization  was  entitled  the  People's  party.  In 
both  of  these  States  there  was  an  organized  and  powerful 
American  party  yet  in  existence,  without  which  the  Repub- 
licans could  not  succeed.  It  was  the  remnant  of  the  Ameri- 
can or  Know-Nothing  revolution  of  1854,  and  they  cherished 
their  own  faith  with  great  fidelity  and  would  not  support  any 
candidate  who  was  friendly  to  the  Catholics. 

When  Seward  was  elected  Governor  of  New  York  in  1838 
it  was  largely  by  the  influence  of  Archbishop  Hughes,  one  of 
the  ablest  Catholic  prelates  this  country  has  ever  had ;  and 
Seward,  not  only  because  of  his  gratitude  to  his  Catholic 
friends,  but  because  of  his  broad  and  liberal  views  generally, 
in  a  message  to  the  Legislature  urged  a  division  of  the  school 
fund  between  the  Catholics  and  Protestants.  That  was  the 
rock  on  which  Seward  was  wrecked.  Had  he  been  nom- 
inated, the  entire  American  element  of  the  opposition  would 
have  been  aggressively  against  him,  and  Pennsylvania  and 
Indiana  would  have  been  lost  not  only  by  the  defeat  of  Cur- 
tin and  Lane  in  October,  but  by  the  defeat  of  Seward  in  No- 
vember. 

The  situation  was  earnestly  presented  by  Curtin  and  Lane, 
and  Mr.  Defrees  and  I  accompanied  them  in  their  confer- 
ences with  various  delegations  which  were  devoted  to 
Seward,  but  were  willing  to  abandon  him — not  because  they 
loved  Seward  less,  but  because  they  loved  Republican  success 
more.  I  saw  several  rural  delegates  from  New  England 
States  shed  tears  as  they  confessed  that  they  must  abandon 

156 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

Scward  because  he  could  not  carry  Pennsylvania  and  In- 
diana, and  certainly  more  than  one-third  of  all  the  delegates 
who  voted  for  Lincoln  in  that  convention  did  it  in  sincerest 
sorrow  because  compelled  to  abandon  their  great  leader  for 
the  sake  of  victory. 

Under  such  conditions  the  Seward  lines  were  steadily 
weakening,  but  never  was  a  movement  so  ably  led  as  was  the 
Seward  movement  at  Chicago.  It  was  literally  a  battle  of 
giants.  Thurlow  Weed,  the  master  of  masters  in  politics,  led 
the  fight  for  Seward,  and  he  had  around  him  Governor  Mor- 

?in,  Chairman  of  the  National  Commitee ;  Raymond,  of  the 
imes,  and  many  others  of  distinguished  ability  in  such 
struggles.  Weed  invited  Lane  to  drive  with  him,  and,  in  the 
course  of  their  conversation,  assured  him  that  if  his  delega- 
tion would  support  Seward  all  the  money  needed  to  carry  his 
election  in  Indiana  would  be  generously  furnished;  but 
Lane  knew  that  no  amount  of  money  could  give  him  victory 
in  October  with  Seward  as  the  national  candidate. 

The  convention  met  on  Wednesday,  May  16,  and  George 
Ashman,  of  Massachusetts,  was  made  permanent  president. 
The  first  day  was  devoted  to  routine  duties,  and  the  second  to 
the  adoption  of  a  platform  and  rules  to  govern  the  conven- 
tion. The  convention  adjourned  on  Thursday  evening  pro- 
foundly impressed  with  the  great  battle  that  was  to  be  fought 
on  the  following  day,  and  both  sides  exhausted  political 
strategy  to  gain  the  advantage.  Weed  organized  a  most  im- 
posing street  parade  of  the  Seward  people.  They  had  thou- 
sands of  Seward  spectators  outside  of  the  delegates,  and  it 
was  one  of  the  most  impressive  public  displays  I  have  ever 
witnessed.  They  paraded  the  streets  for  an  hour  or  more 
before  the  meeting  of  the  convention. 

The  friends  of  Lincoln  had  been  tireless  in  their  efforts, 
and  they  displayed  wonderful  ability  in  handling  their  forces. 
The  leaders  in  immediate  charge  of  the  Lincoln  people  were 
Colonel  Medill,  of  the  Chicago  Tribune;  David  Davis,  after- 
ward Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court ;  Norman  B.  Judd,  Chair- 
man of  the  Republican  State  Committee,  and  Leonard  Swett, 
who  was  almost  a  copy  of  Lincoln  physically,  and  who  was 
Lincoln's  closest  friend  until  the  day  of  his  death.  When 
they  found  that  the  Seward  parade  was  to  come  off,  they 
counselled  how  to  meet  it,  and  they  finally  decided  that  while 
the  Seward  men  were  parading  they  would  fill  the  immense 
temporary  wigwam — erected  for  the  convention,  and  capable 

157 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

of  holding  five  thousand  spectators — with  men  who  should 
go  there  solely  for  the  purpose  of  hurrahing  for  Lincoln. 
They  carried  this  plan  into  very  successful  operation,  and 
when  the  Seward  procession  attempted  to  march  into  the  con- 
vention hall  they  found  it  filled  to  overflowing,  and  very  few 
Seward  men  outside  the  delegation  could  obtain  admission. 

Just  before  the  convention  opened  I  saw  the  New  York 
delegation  file  in  and  fill  the  only  vacant  place  in  the  immense 
building.  They  were  appalled  when  they  saw  how  they  had 
been  outgeneralled.  Almost  immediately  behind  the  New 
York  men,  who  were  under  the  lead  of  Evarts  as  Chairman 
of  the  delegation,  sat  Horace  Greeley  at  the  head  of  the 
Oregon  delegation.  That  new  State,  just  admitted  into  the 
Union,  was  so  far  from  civilization,  as  the  iron  horse  had 
not  yet  been  heard  in  either  the  Rockies  or  the  Sierra  Ne- 
vadas,  that  the  Republican  convention  selected  a  number  of 
prominent  men  in  the  East,  including  Greeley,  to  represent 
the  State.  I  never  saw  a  more  benignant  face  than  that  of 
Greeley's  when  the  nomination  of  Lincoln  was  declared.  It 
was  known  by  the  supporters  of  Seward  that  Pennsylvania 
and  Indiana  had  both  decided  to  support  Lincoln,  the  Penn- 
sylvanians  having  declared  for  Lincoln  by  four  majority  over 
Bates,  after  giving  a  complimentary  ballot  to  Cameron. 

With  very  little  preliminary  movement  the  ballot  began, 
and  Seward's  two-thirds  vote  of  the  convention  dwindled 
down  to  173^  when  234  were  necessary  to  a  choice.  Lincoln, 
with  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  giving  complimentary  ballots 
to  Cameron  and  Chase,  had  102  votes.  As  the  ballots  were 
announced,  every  vote  for  Lincoln  was  cheered  to  the  echo, 
while  there  were  but  few  cheers  for  Seward  except  from  the 
delegates  themselves.  When  the  2d  ballot  was  called 
the  Seward  people  felt  that  they  must  largely  increase  their 
strength  or  fall  in  the  race.  As  Lincoln  gained  most  of  the 
vote  of  Pennsylvania,  with  important  gains  from  other 
States,  the  wildest  cheering  greeted  the  announcements,  and 
when  the  ballot  was  given  with  only  10  votes  gained  by 
Seward  and  75  votes  gained  by  Lincoln,  it  became  evident  to 
all  that  Seward's  strength  was  exhausted  and  that  Lincoln 
was  the  coming  man.  The  next  and  last  ballot  soon  showed 
Lincoln  as  leading  Seward,  and  from  that  time  on  it  was  diffi- 
cult to  announce  the  votes  of  the  States  because  of  the 
frenzied  cheers  for  "  Abe  Lincoln." 

When  the  last  State  was  called  it  was  known  that  Lincoln 

158 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

was  either  nominated  or  very  close  to  it.  The  vote  as  re- 
corded was  23 1 £  for  Lincoln,  being  2j  votes  short  of  a  ma- 
jority, and  1 80  for  Seward,  with  some  50  scattering.  Be- 
fore the  result  was  announced  Chairman  Carter,  of  Ohio, 
got  up  on  his  chair  to  assure  the  attention  of  the  President, 
and  said : 

M  I  rise  to  announce  the  change  of  four  votes  from  Ohio 
from  Mr.  Chase  to  Abraham  Lincoln." 

It  was  known  then  that  this  gave  Lincoln  the  majority,  and 
I  have  never  before  nor  since  witnessed  such  a  scene  as  was 
made  by  the  great  mass  of  the  Lincoln  people  who  were  in 
the  hall.  A  large  charcoal  picture  of  Lincoln  was  presented 
in  the  gallery  at  the  rear  of  the  hall,  and  the  whole  vast  audi- 
ence, with  few  exceptions  outside  of  the  New  York  delega- 
tion, rose  to  indulge  in  the  wildest  enthusiasm  for  some 
minutes. 

When  order  was  finally  restored,  Maine,  Massachusetts, 
and  Missouri  changed  a  number  of  votes  to  Lincoln,  giving 
him  a  total  of  354,  being  120  odd  votes  more  than  he  needed. 
When  the  vote  was  announced  by  the  President  cheers  broke 
out  afresh,  but  they  soon  quieted  down  to  await  the  action  of 
the  New  York  delegation  that  was  expected  to  move  the 
unanimous  nomination.  There  was  certainly  fully  five  min- 
utes of  dead  silence  in  the  body,  as  the  New  York  delegates 
were  mortified  beyond  expression  at  their  discomfiture;  but 
after  a  long  wait  that  seemed  to  be  vastly  longer  than  it  was, 
the  tall  form  of  William  M.  Evarts  arose,  and  with  re- 
luctance that  was  unconcealed  said  : 

"  Mr.  President,  I  move  that  the  nomination  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  be  made  unanimous." 

Governor  Andrew,  of  Massachusetts,  rose  as  soon  as  he 
saw  Evarts  rise,  and  when  Evarts's  motion  was  made  An- 
drew seconded  it,  and  with  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  con- 
vention and  the  heartiest  huzzas  from  the  many  thousands 
who  witnessed  the  proceedings,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  de- 
clared the  Republican  candidate  for  President.  The  conven- 
tion adjourned  to  meet  again  in  the  evening  to  nominate  a 
candidate  for  Vice-President. 

As  there  will  be  general  interest  felt  in  the  proceedings  of 
the  Republican  National  Convention  that  gave  the  country 
the  first  Republican  President  in  Abraham  Lincoln,  I  give 
the  detailed  vote  of  each  State  represented  in  the  conven- 
tion on  the  three  ballots  for  President,  as  follows  : 

159 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 


STATES. 

IST  BALLOT. 

Seward. 

Lincoln. 

0) 

1 

Cameron. 

03 

1 

McLean. 

T3 

1 

Chase. 

Dayton. 

Sumner. 

Fremont. 

Collamer. 

Maine  

10 

1 

6 

V 

- 

— 

— 

- 

- 

1 

_ 

- 

1 

10 

New  Hampshire  

Massachusetts  

21 
70 

4 
2 

1 

1 

7 

5 

1 

1 
2 

- 

— 

— 

Rhode  Island 

Connecticut  

New  York 

14 

Pennsylvania  

J» 

4 

— 

47* 

8 
fi 

1 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Maryland  

Virginia  

8 
5 

14 
6 

8 
26 

2 

1 

18 

1 

4 

- 

8 
34 

- 

1 

- 

- 

Kentucky  

Ohio 

Indiana  

12 

4 

10 
2 

8 
8 

Illinois  

22 

— 

— 

2 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Texas  . 

Wisconsin 

Iowa  

2 

- 

1 

1 

1 

- 

1 

- 

- 

- 

— 

California 

5 

Kansas 

6 
2 

2 

173^ 

Nebraska  

1 

- 

1 

- 

- 

- 

2 

- 

- 

— 

— 

District  of  Columbia  

Totals 

102 

3 

50* 

48 

12 

1 

49 

14 

1 

1 

10 

2o  BALLOT. 


STATES. 

Seward. 

Lincoln. 

rf 
g 

1 

Cameron. 

McLean. 

Chase. 

Dayton. 

^ 
<g 

0 

X 

u 

Maine.  .  

10 

a 

New  Hampshire  

1 

9 







__ 

__ 

Vermont  

10 



.  





__ 

Massachusetts. 

22 

4 



Rhode  Island  

8 

___ 



2 

8 

Connecticut  



4 

4 

9, 



9, 

New  York  

70 







New  Jersey 

4 

10 

Pennsylvania.. 

2^ 

48 

1 

9,i< 

Maryland  

3'2 

8 

160 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


STATES. 

2o  BALLOT. 

1 

I 

& 

Lincoln. 

i 

1 

Cameron. 

McLean. 

i 

o 

§ 
ft 

a 

C.  M.  Clay. 

Delaware  

8 
7 

12 

6 
10 
2 

8 
8 

6 
3 
2 

6 

14 
9 
14 
26 

22 
5 

1 

18 
5 

1 

3 
~K 

6 
29 

~*/2 

2 

— 

— 

Virginia  

Kentucky  

Ohio 

Indiana 

Missouri 

Michigan.. 

Illinois  

Texas  

Iowa 

California 

Minnesota             

Oregon             

Kansas.       

Nebraska  

Dist   of  Columbia 

Totals     

184^ 

181 

35 

2 

8 

42^ 

10 

2 

STATES. 

3D  BALLOT. 

Seward. 

| 

1 

i 

R 

13 

McLean. 

§ 
ft 

& 

£ 

8 

a 

u 

Maine                      

10 

1 

18 
1 
1 
70 
5 

2 

8 
6 

1 

i 

2 

4 
15 

6 
9 
10 
8 
5 
4 

8 
52 
9 
6 
14 
13 
29 

1 
2 

2 

1 

1 

New  Hampshire  

Vermont.         

Massachusetts 

Rhode  Island 

Connecticut  

New  York 

New  Jersey 

Pennsylvania 

Maryland  . 

Delaware                  

Virginia  

Kentucky 

Ohio. 

161 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


STATES. 

3D  BALLOT. 

Seward. 

4 

i 

M 

JS 

O 

Lincoln. 

McLean. 

Dayton. 

>* 

£ 
O 

* 

d 

Indiana 

12 

6 
10 
2 
8 
8 
1 
6 
3 
2 

18 

X 

2 

26 
22 

5K 

4 
1 

— 

— 

— 

Missouri  . 

Michigan 

Illinois  

Texas 

Wisconsin  

Iowa 

California 

Minnesota      

Oregon  

Kansas    

Nebraska  

Dist.  of  Columbia 

Totals  

180 

22 

W/2 

231^ 

5 

1 

1 

So  keen  were  the  disappointments  of  the  New  York  dele- 
gation, and  Mr.  Weed,  who  was  the  Seward  leader,  that 
when  earnestly  urged  to  name  a  candidate  forVice-President, 
who  would  have  been  accepted  by  a  nearly  unanimous  vote, 
they  churlishly  refused  to  do  so.  Governor  Morgan  would 
have  been  taken  as  the  candidate  to  emphasize  the  desire  of 
the  friends  of  Lincoln  to  recognize  the  friends  of  Seward,  but 
he  peremptorily  refused  to  accept  it,  and  the  convention  then 
nominated  Hannibal  Hamlin,  of  Maine,  as  a  representative 
of  the  Democratic- Republican  element;  but  New  York 
divided  her  vote  between  five  candidates,  giving  a  bare  ma- 
jority to  Hamlin  from  personal  choice. 

As  the  friends  of  Seward  declined  to  indicate  a  candidate 
for  Vice-President  the  convention  reassembled  in  the  even- 
ing to  enter  a  free-for-all  race  for  the  second  place  on  the 
ticket.  Hamlin  commanded  nearly  a  solid  vote  from  New 
England  that  attracted  others.  He  was  known  throughout 
the  country  as  the  man  who  had  resigned  the  chairmanship 
of  his  committee  in  the  Senate  in  1856  to  declare  himself  for 
Fremont,  although  an  earnest  Democrat  up  to  that  time,  and 
that  he  had  accepted  the  Republican  nomination  for  Gov- 

162 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

ernor  and  won  out  by  an  overwhelming  majority.  There  was 
a  strong  sentiment  in  the  convention  in  favor  of  Cassius  M. 
Clay,  not  because  he  was  personally  preferred,  but  because 
it  was  thought  wise  by  many  to  desectionalize  the  party  by 
taking  a  candidate  for  Vice-President  from  a  Slave  State. 
Hamlin  had  a  good  lead  on  the  1st  ballot,  and  on  the  2d 
won  an  easy  victory.  The  two  ballots  were  as  follows : 


STATES. 

IST  BALLOT. 

2o  BALLOT. 

£ 
• 

o 

ai 

d 

Banks. 

Reeder. 

Hickman. 

Hamlin. 

Hamlin. 

£ 

u 

£ 

2 

2 
3 
6 

Maine  

2 
9 

1 

J* 

3 
23 
23 

18 

4 
2 

5 

1 

1 
2 

20 

1 
4 

~2K 

9 

1 
1 

1 

2 

7 
24 

16 

1 

1 

2 

11 

7 
1 
1 

9 
2 

8 
1 
3 
6 
5 

16 
10 
10 

1 

8 
5 
35 
6 
11 
8 
2 

48 
8 

8 
2 

5 
6 

6 
1 

16 
10 
10 
26 
8 
10 
70 
14 
54 
10 
6 

46  , 
12 
13 
8 
20 

5 
3 

7 
7 
3 
2 

2 

1 

23 

28 

14 
5 
4 
2 
6 
5 

1 
1 

1 

New  Hampshire  .  . 

Vermont  

Massachusetts  

Rhode  Island  . 

Connecticut. 

New  York  

New  Jersey  

Pennsylvania  

Maryland  

Delaware  

Virginia  . 

Kentucky 

Ohio  

Indiana  

Missouri  

Illinois.. 

Texas  

Wisconsin  .  .  . 

Iowa  

California.. 

Minnesota  

Oregon.  . 

Kansas.  .    . 

Nebraska  

District  of  Columbia..  . 
Totals  

IOIK 

38^ 

51 

58 

194 

367 

86 

13 

The  Chicago  convention  that  nominated  Lincoln  for  Pres- 
ident was  not  only  the  ablest  national  political  body  that  ever 

163 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

met  in  the  country  up  to  that  time,  but  it  exhibited  the  high- 
est type  of  political  strategy.  It  has  never  since  then  been 
equalled  in  ability  and  leadership,  with  the  single  exception 
of  the  Republican  convention  of  1880,  in  which  the  friends  of 
Grant  made  their  last  stand  to  give  their  chieftain  a  third 
term.  As  compared  with  these  two,  all  subsequent  conven- 
tions were  tame. 

The  following  platform  was  unanimously  adopted : 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  delegated  representatives  of  the  Repub- 
lican electors  of  the  United  States,  in  convention  assembled,  in  dis- 
charge of  the  duty  we  owe  to  our  constituents  and  our  country,  unite 
in  the  following  declarations : 

1.  That  the  history  of  the  nation,  during  the  last  four  years,  has 
fully  established  the  propriety  and  necessity  of  the  organization  and 
perpetuation   of  the   Republican   party,    and  that  the   causes   which 
called    it    into    existence  are  permanent  in  their  nature,  and  now, 
more    than    ever    before,    demand    its    peaceful    and    constitutional 
triumph. 

2.  That   the   maintenance   of   the   principles   promulgated   in   the 
Declaration  of   Independence  and   embodied    in  the    Federal  Consti- 
tution— "  that  all  men  are  created  equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by 
their  Creator  with  certain  unalienable  rights;  that  among  these  are 
life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness ;  that,  to  secure  these  rights, 
governments  are  instituted  among  men,  deriving  their  just  powers 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed  " — is  essential  to  the  preserva- 
tion of  our  republican  institutions;  and  that  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion,' the  rights  of  the  States,  and  the  union  of  the  States,  must  and 
shall  be  preserved. 

3.  That  to  the  union  of  the  States  this  nation  owes  its  unprec- 
edented increase  in  population,   its  surprising  development  of  ma- 
terial resources,  its  rapid  augmentation  of  wealth,  its  happiness  at 
home,  and  its  honor  abroad ;    and  we  hold  in  abhorrence  all  schemes 
for  disunion,  come  from  whatever  source  they  may;  and  we  con- 
gratulate the  country  that  no  Republican  member  of  Congress  has 
uttered  or  countenanced  the  threats  of  disunion  so  often  made  by 
Democratic  members,  without  rebuke  and  with  applause  from  their 
political  associates;  and  we  denounce  those  threats  of  disunion,  in 
case  of  a  popular  overthrow  of  their  ascendancy,  as  denying  the  vital 
principles  of  a  free  government,  and  as  an  avowal  of  contemplated 
treason,  which  it  is  the  imperative  duty  of  an  indignant  people  sternly 
to  rebuke  and  forever  silence. 

4.  That  the  maintenance  inviolate  of  the  rights  of  the  States,  and 
especially  the  right  of  each  State  to  order  and  control  its  own  do- 
mestic  institutions   according   to  its   own  judgment   exclusively,    is 
essential  to  that  balance  of  power  on  which  the  perfection  and  en- 
durance of  our  political  fabric  depends ;  and  we  denounce  the  law- 
less invasion  by  armed  force  of  the  soil  of  any  State  or  Territory, 
no  matter  under  what  pretext,  as  among  the  gravest  of  crimes. 

5.  That  the  present  Democratic  administration  has  far  exceeded 
our    worst    apprehensions,  in    its    measureless    subserviency    to    the 
exactions  of  a  sectional  interest,  as  especially  evinced  in  its  des- 

164 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

perate  exertions  to  force  the  infamous  Lecompton  Constitution 
upon  the  protesting  people  of  Kansas;  in  construing  the  personal 
relation  between  master  and  servant  to  involve  an  unqualified 
property  in  person ;  in  its  attempted  enforcement,  everywhere,  on 
land  and  sea,  through  the  intervention  of  Congress  and  of  the  Fed- 
eral courts,  of  the  extreme  pretensions  of  a  purely  local  interest; 
and  in  its  general  and  unvarying  abuse  of  the  power  entrusted  to  it 
by  a  confiding  people. 

6.  That  the  people  justly  view  with  alarm  the  reckless  extrava- 
gance which  pervades  every  department  of  the  Federal  Government ; 
that  a  return  to  rigid  economy  and  accountability  is  indispensable  to 
arrest    the    systematic    plunder  of  the  public  treasury  by  favored 
partisans ;   while  the  recent  startling  developments  of  frauds  and 
corruptions  at  the  Federal  metropolis  show  that  an  entire  change  of 
administration  is  imperatively  demanded. 

7.  That  the  new  dogma  that  the  Constitution,  of  its  own  force, 
carries  slavery  into  any  or  all  of  the  Territories  of  the  United  States, 
is  a  dangerous  political  heresy,  at  variance  with  the  explicit  pro- 
visions of  that  instrument  itself,  with  contemporaneous  exposition, 
and  with  legislative  and  judicial  precedent;  is  revolutionary  in  its 
tendency,  and  subversive  of  the  peace  and  harmony  of  the  country. 

8.  That  the  normal  condition  of  all  the  territory  of  the  United 
States  is  that  of  freedom ;  that  as  our  republican  fathers,  when  they 
had  abolished  slavery  in  all  our  national  territory,   ordained  that 
no  person  should  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property  without 
due  process  of  law,  it  becomes  our  duty,  by  legislation,  whenever 
such  legislation  is  necessary,  to  maintain  this  provision  of  the  Con- 
stitution against  all  attempts  to  violate  it ;  and  we  deny  the  authority 
of  Congress,  of  a  territorial  legislature,  or  of  any  individual,  to  give 
legal  existence  to  slavery  in  any  Territory  of  the  United  States. 

9.  That  we  brand  the  recent  reopening  of  the  African  slave-trade, 
under  the  cover  of  our  national  flag,  aided  by  perversions  of  ju- 
dicial power,  as  a  crime  against  humanity,  and  a  burning  shame 
to  our  country  and  age ;  and  we  call  upon  Congress  to  take  prompt 
and  efficient  measures  for  the  total  and  final  suppression  of  that 
execrable  traffic. 

10.  That  in  the  recent  vetoes,  by  their  Federal  governors,  of  the 
acts  of  the  Legislatures  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  prohibiting  slavery 
in  those  Territories,  we  find  a  practical  illustration  of  the  boasted 
Democratic  principle  of  non-intervention  and  popular  sovereignty, 
embodied  in  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  and  a  demonstration  of  the 
deception  and  fraud  involved  therein. 

11.  That   Kansas   should  of   right   be   immediately  admitted   as  a 
State  under  the  Constitution  recently  formed  and  adopted  by  her 
people  and  accepted  by  the  House  of  Representatives. 

12.  That,  while  providing  revenue  for  the  support  of  the  General 
Government  by  duties  upon  imports,  sound  policy  requires  such  an 
adjustment  of  these  imposts  as  to  encourage  the  development  of  the 
industrial   interests  of  the  whole  country;   and  we  commend  that 
policy  of  national  exchanges  which  secures  to  the  workingmen  lib- 
eral  wages,  to  agriculture  remunerating  prices,   to  mechanics  and 
manufacturers  an  adequate  reward  for  their  skill,  labor,  and  enter- 
prise, and  to  the  nation  commercial  prosperity  and  independence. 

13.  That  we  protest  against  any  sale  or  alienation  to  others  of 

165 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

the  public  lands  held  by  actual  settlers,  and  against  any  view  of  the 
free-homestead  policy  which  regards  the  settlers  as  paupers  or  sup- 
pliants for  public  bounty;  and  we  demand  the  passage  by  Congress 
of  the  complete  and  satisfactory  homestead  measure  which  has  al- 
ready passed  the  House. 

14.  That  the  Republican  party  is  opposed  to  any  change  in  our 
naturalization  laws,  or  any  State  legislation  by  which  the  rights  of 
citizenship  hitherto  accorded  to  immigrants  from  foreign  lands  shall 
be  abridged  or  impaired ;  and  in  favor  of  giving  a  full  and  efficient 
protection  to  the  rights  of  all  classes  of  citizens,  whether  native  or 
naturalized,  both  at  home  and  abroad. 

The  bitter  estrangement  of  Douglas  and  President 
Buchanan  made  an  impassable  gulf  between  Douglas  and  the 
radical  Southerners  who  stood  by  Buchanan.  Douglas  had 
a  desperate  contest  in  his  State  for  re-election  to  the  Senate 
in  1858,  when  he  was  opposed  by  Lincoln  as  the  Republican 
candidate,  and  was  even  more  vindictively  opposed  by  all  the 
power  of  the  national  administration.  Lincoln  won  the 
State,  as  he  carried  the  Republican  or  Union  State  ticket, 
but  the  legislative  districts  were  so  gerrymandered  that 
Douglas  won  the  Legislature  and  came  back  in  triumph  to 
defy  the  President.  There  was  no  reasonable  prospect, 
therefore,  of  Democratic  unity  in  the  campaign  of  1860. 
Douglas,  who  was  the  most  astute  of  all  the  Democratic  pol- 
iticians of  his  day,  clearly  foresaw  that  the  violent  attitude 
of  the  South  must  result  in  the  defeat  of  the  slavery  party 
and  the  early  extinction  of  slavery ;  but  slavery  had  always 
been  omnipotent  since  the  battle  began,  and  it  would  not 
learn  that  its  mastery  could  be  overthrown. 

The  Democratic  National  Convention  was  called  for  the 
first  time  to  meet  far  South,  in  the  city  of  Charleston,  the 
home  of  Calhoun,  the  cradle  of  nullification,  and  the  one 
place  in  the  Union  where  secession  ran  rampant.  It  was 
obviously  intended  to  environ  the  convention  with  an  army 
of  the  ablest  Southern  leadership.  The  convention  met  on 
the  23d  of  April,  1860,  and  every  State  was  fully  represented, 
with  double  delegations  from  Illinois  and  New  York.  The 
few  administration  followers  in  Illinois  had  made  a  rump 
Democratic  organization  and  sent  an  anti-Douglas  delega- 
tion to  Charleston,  and  in  New  York  they  had  another  con- 
test between  the  "  Hards"  and  the  "  Softs,"  the  "  Hards" 
being  opposed  to  Douglas  and  the  "  Softs"  for  him.  Caleb 
Gushing  was  made  permanent  president,  and  it  was  decided 
that  no  ballot  should  be  had  for  President  until  a  platform 
was  adopted.  On  the  following  day  the  convention  did  not 

166 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

get  beyond  the  settlement  of  contested  seats,  admitting  the 
"  Softs"  of  New  York  and  the  Douglas  men  from  Illinois, 
and  the  debates  on  even  the  most  trivial  disputes  were  un- 
usually bitter.  On  the  third  day  threats  of  bolting  became 
common  among  the  Southern  delegates,  as  the  admission 
of  the  Douglas  delegates  from  New  York  and  Illinois  clearly 
indicated  that  the  Douglas  people  controlled  the  convention. 
On  the  fourth  day  majority  and  minority  reports  were  made 
on  the  platform,  the  majority  by  Mr.  Avery,  of  North  Caro- 
lina, and  the  minority  by  Mr.  Payne,  of  Ohio.  General  Ben- 
jamin F.  Butler,  who  was  a  prominent  delegate  in  the  con- 
vention, as  he  would  be  anywhere,  and  who  voted  for  Jef- 
ferson Davis  for  the  Presidency  right  along,  presented  a 
minority  report  of  his  own,  and  Senator  Bayard,  of  Dela- 
ware, followed  with  a  platform  of  his  invention.  On  the 
fifth  day  Senator  Bigler,  of  Pennsylvania,  moved  to  recom- 
mit the  platforms  to  the  committee  with  instructions  to  re- 
port in  an  hour,  and  the  motion  to  recommit  was  carried,  152 
to  151,  while  the  motion  to  instruct  was  lost  by  a  very  large 
vote.  On  the  same  day  Mr.  Avery,  from  the  majority  of  the 
committee  on  platform,  reported  a  new  declaration  of  prin- 
ciples, and  an  elaborate  discussion  followed,  and  Mr.  Sam- 
uels, of  Iowa,  presented  a  new  minority  report. 

After  a  protracted  and  ill-tempered  debate,  it  was  finally 
decided  that  the  vote  on  the  platform  should  be  taken  on 
Monday,  the  3Oth,  and  on  that  day  the  convention  proceeded 
to  vote  without  debate.  Butler's  platform  was  rejected  by 
198  to  105.  Next  the  minority  report  of  Mr.  Samuels,  being 
the  Douglas  platform,  was  carried  by  165  to  138.  The  report 
of  the  committee  as  amended  was  then  adopted  without  a 
vote  by  States,  upon  \vhich  the  Alabama  delegation  pre- 
sented a  written  protest  announcing  the  purpose  of  the  del- 
egates to  withdraw  from  the  convention.  The  Mississippi, 
Florida,  and  Texas  delegations  gave  like  notice,  and  the 
Louisiana  delegation  excepting  two,  the  South  Carolina 
delegation  excepting  three,  with  three  of  the  Arkansas  dele- 
gation, two  of  the  Delaware  delegation,  including  Senator 
Bayard,  and  one  from  North  Carolina  then  withdrew  from 
the  convention.  There  were  great  pomp  and  ceremony  in 
this  proceeding,  as  formal  protests  and  elaborate  speeches 
were  made  by  the  retiring  delegates.  The  convention  was 
thus  largely  depleted,  but  a  resolution,  declaring  that  two- 
thirds  of  a  full  convention,  being  202  votes,  shall  be  neces- 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


sary  to  make  nominations,  was  adopted  by  141  to  112.  The 
convention  then  proceeded  to  ballot  for  President  with  the 
following  result: 


BALLOTS. 


1..., 

2..., 
3..., 

4..., 
5..., 
6..., 
7..., 
8..., 
9.... 

10..., 

11.... 

12.... 

13.... 

14... 

15..., 

16..., 

17..., 

18..., 

19..., 

20.    ., 

21..., 

22. . . , 

23..., 

24... 

25..., 

26..., 

27..., 

28..., 

29... 

30. .. 

81... 

32. .. 

33... 

34... 

35... 

36... 

37... 

38... 

39... 

40... 

41 ... 

42... 

43... 

44... 

45... 

46... 

47... 

48... 

49... 

50... 

51... 

52... 

53... 

54... 

45... 

56... 

57... 


182U 


151V6 


42 

36 

£* 

41 
41 


38 
38 
28>6 


168 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

Douglas  had  a  large  plurality  of  the  votes,  but  could  not 
obtain  even  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  remaining  delegates. 
After  the  57th  ballot  a  motion  was  made  to  adjourn  the  con- 
vention to  reassemble  at  Baltimore  on  the  i8th  of  June.  That 
was  adopted  by  195  to  55,  whereupon  President  Gushing  ad- 
journed the  convention  to  reconvene  in  Baltimore.  The  re- 
tiring delegates  met  at  St.  Andrew's  Hall,  in  Charleston, 
elected  Senator  Bayard,  of  Delaware,  president,  and  after 
much  discussion  adopted  a  platform  of  its  own.  After 
spending  four  days  wholly  devoted  to  discussion,  that  body 
adjourned  to  reconvene  in  Richmond  on  the  second  Monday 
in  June.  This  convention  reconvened  in  Richmond  on  the 
nth  of  June,  with  delegates  from  Alabama,  Texas,  Louisi- 
ana, Mississippi,  Georgia,  South  Carolina,  Florida,  Tennes- 
see, and  Virginia.  John  Erwin,  of  Alabama,  was  made 
President,  when  it  adjourned  to  meet  again  in  Richmond 
on  the  2  ist  of  June,  and  reassembled  on  that  day  and  awaited 
the  action  of  the  Democratic  seceders  of  the  Baltimore  con- 
vention, who  nominated  Breckenridge  and  Lane,  when  it 
accepted  the  candidates  of  the  seceders  and  their  platform, 
and  adjourned  sine  die. 

The  regular  Democratic  National  Convention  reassembled 
in  Baltimore  on  the  i8th  of  June,  and  the  first  three  days 
were  devoted  to  a  wrangling  discussion  on  rules,  platforms, 
rights  of  delegates,  etc.  The  first  disturbing  questions  the 
convention  had  to  meet  were  the  admission  of  delegates  and 
the  right  of  partial  delegations  representing  States  to  cast 
the  full  vote  of  the  State.  The  decision  of  the  convention 
started  another  small  tidal  wave  of  secession  and  Virginia  re- 
tired. North  Carolina  followed,  then  Tennessee,  and  a  por- 
tion of  Maryland.  Later  California  and  Delaware  withdrew 
with  a  part  of  Kentucky,  and  President  Gushing  became  so 
disgusted  that  he  resigned  his  position  and  bolted  himself. 
The  convention  finally  proceeded  to  ballot  for  President,  and 
two  ballots  were  had,  with  the  following  result : 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


STATES. 

IST  BALLOT. 

2o  BALLOT. 

Douglas. 

Breckenridge. 

Guthrie. 

Douglas. 

Breckenridge. 

Guthrie. 

Maine          ..                      .    . 

10 
35  2 

23 
13 
11 
6 

VA 

1 
3 

3 
1 

7 
5 
5 
10 

C 

1 

9 
6 

3 
23 

13 
11 
6 
5 
4 
4 

K 

7 

\ 

New  Hampshire       

Vermont  

Massachusetts  

Rhode  Island 

Connecticut     .  . 

New  York                      .    . 

New  Jersey     .             

Pennsylvania  

Maryland  

Virginia 

North  Carolina  . 

Alabama 

Louisiana     

Arkansas  

Missouri  

Tennessee 

Kentucky  . 

Ohio             

Indiana  

Illinois  

Michigan  

Wisconsin 

Iowa  .            ... 

Minnesota  

173^ 

5 

10 

181* 

% 

OK 

As  Douglas  had  received  nearly  the  unanimous  vote  of  the 
remaining  delegates,  it  was  finally  resolved  that  as  he  had 
two-thirds  of  all  the  votes  given  in  the  convention,  he  was 
the  nominee  of  the  party  for  President.  Benjamin  Fitzpat- 
rick,  Senator  from  Alabama,  was  nominated  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent,  receiving  198^  votes  to  I  for  William  C.  Alexander,  of 
New  Jersey.  Senator  Fitzpatrick  declined  the  nomination 
when  notified  of  it,  and  the  National  Committee  supplied  the 
vacancy  by  the  nomination  of  Herschel  V.  Johnson,  of 
Georgia.  The  platform  adopted  by  this  convention  was  as 
follows : 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

I.  Resolved,  That  we,  the  Democracy  of  the  Union,  in  conven- 
tion assembled,  hereby  declare  our  affirmance  of  the  resolutions 
unanimously  adopted  and  declared  as  a  platform  of  principles  Jt>y 
the  Democratic  convention  at  Cincinnati  in  the  year  1856,  believing 
that  Democratic  principles  are  unchangeable  in  their  nature  when  ap- 

?lied  to  the  same  subject-matters;  and  we  recommend  as  the  only 
urther  resolutions  the  following : 

Inasmuch  as  differences  of  opinion  exist  in  the  Democratic  party 
as  to  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  powers  of  a  Territorial  legisla- 
ture, and  as  to  the  powers  and  duties  of  Congress,  under  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  over  the  institution  of  slavery  within 
the  Territories — 

2.  Resolved,  That  the  Democratic  party  will  abide  by  the  decisions 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  on  the  questions  of  con- 
stitutional law. 

3.  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  United  States  to  afford 
ample  and  complete  protection  to  all  its  citizens,  whether  at  home 
or  abroad,  and  whether  native  or  foreign. 

4.  Resolved,  That  one  of  the  necessities  of  the  age,  in  a  military, 
commercial,  and  postal  point  of  view,  is  speedy  communication  be- 
tween the  Atlantic  and  Pacific   States;   and  the  Democratic  party 
pledge  such  constitutional  government  aid  as  will  insure  the  con- 
struction of  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific  Coast  at  the  earliest  practicable 
period. 

5.  Resolved,    That    the    Democratic   party    are    in    favor    of    the 
acquisition  of  the  island  of  Cuba,  on  such  terms  as  shall  be  honor- 
able to  ourselves  and  just  to  Spain. 

6.  Resolved,  That  the  enactments  of  State  Legislatures  to  defeat 
the  faithful  execution  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  law  are  hostile  in  char- 
acter,   subversive   of   the   Constitution,   and   revolutionary   in   their 
effects. 

7.  Resolved,  That  it  is  in  accordance  with  the  interpretation  of  the 
Cincinnati  platform,   that,   during  the   existence   of  the   Territorial 
governments,  the  measure  of  restriction,  whatever  it  may  be,  im- 
posed by  the  Federal  Constitution  on  the  power  of  the  Territorial 
Legislature  over  the  subject  of  the  domestic  relations,  as  the  same 
has  been,  or  shall  hereafter  be,  finally  determined  by  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  should  be  respected  by  all  good  citizens, 
and  enforced  with  promptness  and  fidelity  by  every  branch  of  the 
General  Government. 


The  seceders  from  the  Baltimore  convention,  who  were 
really  representing  the  seceders  from  the  Charleston  con- 
vention then  in  session  at  Richmond,  immediately  organized 
a  new  convention  in  the  Front  Street  Theatre,  of  Baltimore, 
with  21  States  fully  or  partially  represented.  Caleb  Gushing 
was  ma'de  chairman,  and  after  adopting  the  two-thirds  rule, 
a  ballot  was  had  for  President,  all  of  the  votes  being  cast  for 
J.  C.  Breckenridge,  of  Kentucky,  by  the  following  States : 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


Vermont 

Massachusetts 8 

New  York 2 

Pennsylvania 4 

Maryland 
Virginia 
North  Carolina 

Georgia 10 

Florida 3 

Alabama  . .  ...     9 


Louisiana 6 

Mississippi 7 

Texas 4 

Arkansas 4 

Missouri 1 

Tennessee 9 

Kentucky 4* 

Minnesota 1 

California 4 

Oregon 3 


Breckenridge,  having  received  the  unanimous  vote  of  the 
convention,  was  declared  the  candidate  with  great  enthusi- 
asm, and  Joseph  Lane,  of  Oregon,  received  a  like  unanimous 
vote  for  Vice-President  on  the  ist  ballot.  The  convention 
then  adopted  the  following  platform,  being  the  same  that 
had  been  reported  to  the  Charleston  convention  by  the  ma- 
jority of  the  platform  committee : 

Resolved,  That  the  platform  adopted  by  the  Democratic  party 
at  Cincinnati  be  affirmed,  with  the  following  explanatory  resolu- 
tions : 

1.  That  the  government  of  a  Territory  organized  by  an  act  of 
Congress  is  provisional  and  temporary ;    and  during  its  existence 
all  citizens  of  the  United  States  have  an  equal  right  to  settle  with 
their  property  in  the  Territory,  without  their  rights  either  of  person 
or  of  property  being  destroyed  or  impaired  by  Congressional  legis- 
lation. 

2.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Federal  Government,  in  all  its  de- 
partments,  to  protect,  when  necessary,  the  rights  of  persons  and 
property  in  the    Territories,    and    wherever    else    its    constitutional 
authority  extends. 

3.  That   when   the   settlers   in   a   Territory,   having   an   adequate 
population,  form  a  State  constitution,  the  right  of  sovereignty  com- 
mences, and,  being    consummated    by    admission    into    the    Union, 
they  stand  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  people  of  other  States ;  and 
the   State   thus  organized  ought   to  be  admitted   into  the   Federal 
Union,  whether  its  constitution  prohibits  or  recognizes  the  institu- 
tion of  slavery. 

4.  That  the  Democratic  party  are  in  favor  of  the  acquisition  of 
the  island  of  Cuba,  on  such  terms  as  shall  be  honorable  to  ourselves 
and  just  to  Spain,  at  the  earliest  practicable  moment. 

5.  That  the  enactments  of  State  Legislatures  to  defeat  the  faith- 
ful execution  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  law  are  hostile  in  character,  sub- 
versive of  the  Constitution,  and  revolutionary  in  their  effect. 

6.  That  the  Democracy  of  the  United  States  recognize  it  as  the 
imperative  duty  of  this  Government  to  protect  the  naturalized  citizen 
in  all  his  rights,  whether  at  home  or  in  foreign  lands,  to  the  same 
extent  as  its  native-born  citizens. 

Whereas,  One  of  the  greatest  necessities  of  the  age,  in  a  political, 
rommercial,  postal,  and  military  point  of  view,  is  a  speedy  com- 
munication between  the  Pacific  and  Atlantic  coasts — 


173 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

Therefore  be  it  Resolved,  That  the  Democratic  party  do  hereby 
pledge  themselves  to  use  every  means  in  their  power  to  secure  the 
passage  of  some  bill,  to  the  extent  of  the  constitutional  authority 
of  Congress,  for  the  construction  of  a  Pacific  railroad  from  the 
Mississippi  River  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  at  the  earliest  practicable 
moment. 

A  convention  of  delegates,  representing  the  Constitutional 
Union  party,  met  at  Baltimore  on  the  pth  of  May  and  nom- 
inated John  Bell,  of  Tennessee,  for  President,  and  Edward 
Everett,  of  Massachusetts,  for  Vice-President.  Two  ballots 
were  had,  as  follows : 


1st  Ballot. 

2d  Ballot. 

John  Bell  . 

68^ 

138 

Samuel  Houston..                                                 .    ... 

57/2 

69 

John  M.  Botts 

9^ 

7 

John  McLean  .             

21 

1 

J.  J.  Crittendon  

28 

1 

Edward  Everett 

25 

9U 

William  Goggin 

3 

William  A.  Graham  . 

22 

18 

William  L.  Sharkey  .      .                     .             . 

7 

8^ 

William  C.  Rieves  

13 

Mr.  Bell  was  declared  the  unanimous  choice  of  the  con- 
vention, and  Mr.  Everett  was  unanimously  nominated  with- 
out the  formality  of  a  ballot.  The  following  platform  was 
adopted  by  this  convention ; 

Whereas,  Experience  has  demonstrated  that  platforms  adopted 
by  the  partisan  conventions  of  the  country  have  had  the  effect  to 
mislead  and  deceive  the  people,  and  at  the  same  time  to  widen  the 
political  divisions  of  the  country  by  the  creation  and  encouragement 
of  geographical  and  sectional  parties,  therefore — 

Resolved,  That  it  is  both  the  part  of  patriotism  and  of  duty  to 
recognize  no  political  principle  other  than  the  Constitution  of  the 
country,  the  union  of  the  States,  and  the  enforcement  of  the  laws, 
and  that,  as  representatives  of  the  constitutional  Union  men  of  the 
country  in  national  convention  assembled,  we  hereby  pledge  our- 
selves to  maintain,  protect,  and  defend,  separately  and  unitedly, 
these  great  principles  of  public  liberty  and  national  safety,  against 
all  enemies  at  home  and  abroad,  believing  that  thereby  peace  may 
once  more  be  restored  to  the  country,  the  rights  of  the  people  and 
of  the  States  re-established,  and  the  Government  again  placed  in 
that  condition  of  justice,  fraternity,  and  equality  which,  under  the 

173 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

example  and  Constitution  of  our  fathers,  has  solemnly  bound  every 
citizen  of  the  United  States  to  maintain  a  more  perfect  union, 
establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for  the  com- 
mon defence,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings 
of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity. 

It  will  t>e  noticed  that  the  American  party  had  entirely  dis- 
appeared as  a  political  factor  in  1860,  and  what  was  called 
the  Constitutional  Union  party  had  its  origin  from  a  num- 
ber of  old  and  conservative  Americans  who  could  not  follow 
either  of  the  old  parties.  The  movement  originated  chiefly 
with  the  friends  of  General  Houston,  of  Texas,  who  had 
separated  from  the  Democratic  party  and  was  elected  Gov- 
ernor of  his  State  after  he  identified  himself  with  the  Ameri- 
can organization.  It  was  expected  by  those  who  did  the  pre- 
liminary work  of  organizing  the  Constitutional  Union  party 
that  Houston  would  be  made  the  candidate  for  President, 
and  it  will  be  seen  that  on  the  1st  ballot  he  was  within  9 
votes  of  Bell.  The  movement  gained  unexpected  strength 
through  the  North,  and  when  the  delegates  assembled  at  Bal- 
timore a  majority  of  them  regarded  it  as  a  necessity  to  nom- 
inate two  of  the  ablest,  cleanest,  and  most  conservative  men 
of  the  country,  and  John  Bell  was  taken  because  it  was 
known  that  he  could  command  a  much  larger  vote  from  the 
old  Whigs  and  Americans  of  the  South,  where  the  Republi- 
cans could  have  no  votes,  than  any  other  candidate.  The 
American  party  never  reappeared  in  the  political  arena  after 
1856,  when  it  succeeded  in  carrying  the  electoral  vote  of 
Maryland  for  Fillmore. 

The  contest  was  one  of  great  activity,  with  much  more  bit- 
terness exhibited  by  the  Democratic  factions  toward  each 
other  than  either  displayed  toward  the  Republicans. 
Douglas  took  the  stump  and  spoke  as  far  South  as  New 
Orleans,  throughout  the  West,  in  various  places  in  New 
York  and  other  Eastern  States.  His  .speeches  were  the  ablest 
and  most  aggressive  ever  delivered  in  a  national  contest. 
Lincoln,  Breckenridge,  and  Bell  took  no  prominent  individual 
part  in  the  battle.  One  of  the  peculiar  features  of  the  cam- 
paign of  1860  was  the  development  of  a  war  spirit  in  the 
North  that  was  quickened  by  the  organization  known  as 
'  The  Wide-A wakes."  They  were  Republican  organizations 
uniformed  by  caps  and  capes,  and  each  one  carrying  a  lantern 
in  night  processions.  Many  of  them  drilled  as  military  com- 
panies, for  the  threat  of  war  came  up  with  almost  every  echo 

174 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


from  the  South.  The  young  men  of  the  North,  and  espe- 
cially the  young  men  just  from  our  colleges,  entered  largely 
and  very  enthusiastically  into  the  Lincoln  ranks,  and  in  no 
previous  Presidential  battle  was  there  such  able  and  general 
discussion  of  public  questions  on  the  hustings.  The  slavery 
question  had  presented  a  new  phase  to  the  people  of  the 
North.  It  was  not  a  mere  battle  against  slavery,  although 
that  appealed  very  strongly  to  the  convictions  of  most  of  the 
Republicans,  but  the  South  had,  by  the  deliverances  of  its 
leading  men,  made  the  issue  directly  against  the  mastery  of 
the  free  labor  of  the  North.  It  was  denounced  by  some  of  the 
ablest  Southern  leaders  as  unworthy  of  respect  or  recogni- 
tion, holding  that  labor  was  menial,  and  that  the  North  was 
madp  up  very  largely  of  "  small-fisted  farmers"  and  "  greasy 
mechanics,"  and  Senator  Chestnut,  of  South  Carolina,  who 
delivered  the  most  honest  and  one  of  the  ablest  speeches  on 
the  labor  question,  compared  the  slave  labor  of  the  South 
most  favorably  with  the  "  mud-sills  of  the  North."  This  at- 
titude of  the  South  logically  brought  the  most  intelligent 
labor  classes  of  all  conditions  into  the  support  of  the  Repub- 
lican ticket  to  vindicate  their  own  manhood  and  indepen- 
dence. The  following  table  presents  the  popular  and  electoral 
vote : 


POPULAR  VOTE. 

ELECTORAL  VOTE 

.2 

, 

i 

&y 

'a 

STATES. 

1 

I 

la 

"3 

ij 

.;« 

*-»r1 

I 

gi 

Tl 

I! 

z% 
£ri 

<;  u 

s§ 

•a| 

«Q 

«  = 

4 

c^ 

c« 

«! 
5 

d 

| 

o 

reckinri 

*a> 

< 

35 

>—  t 

^ 

3 

tt 

CQ 

M 

13  ggi 

48  831 

27  825 

5  227 

28  732 

20  094 

California 

39  173 

38  516 

34  334 

6  817 

4 

Connecticut  

43,692 
3  815 

15,522 
1  023 

14,641 
7347 

3,291 
3864 

u 

- 

3 

- 

Delaware  

Florida 

367 

8  543 

5  437 

3 

11,590 
160  215 

51,889 
2  404 

42,886 
3913 

- 

- 

10 

- 

Illinois 

172  161 

Indiana  

139,033 

115,509 

12,295 

5,306 

13 

I'  >wa 

70  409 

55  in 

1  048 

1  763 

4 

Kentucky  ...           

1,364 

25.651 

53,143 

f>;,o:>s 

1? 

Louisiana        .... 

7,625 

82,681 

20,204 

— 

— 

6 

175 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


STATES. 

POPULAR  VOTE. 

ELECTORAL  VOTE 

Abraham  Lincoln, 
Republican. 

Stephen  A.  Douglas, 
Democrat. 

John  C.  Breckinridge, 
Independent  Democrat. 

John  Bell, 
Constitutional  Union. 

Lincoln. 

Douglas. 

Breckinridge. 

^j 

£ 

Maine  

62,811 
2,294 
106,533 
88,480 
22,069 

26,693 
5,966 
34,372 
65,057 
11.920 
3,283 
58,801 
.25,881 
62,801 
312,510 
2,701 
187,232 
3,951 
16,765 
7,707 

6,368 
42,482 
5,939 
805 
748 
40,797 
31,317 
2,112 

2,046 
41,760 
22,331 
405 
62 
25,040 
58,372 
41 

8 

13 
6 
4 

- 

8 

~r 

- 

Maryland  

Massachusetts  
Michigan  

1 

17,028 
37,519 
58,324 
362,646 

231,610 
5,270 
268,030 
12,244 

~5 
4 
35 

23 
3 
27 
4 

9 
3 

New  Hampshire  

- 

New  York 

North  Carolina  

48,339 
11,405 
3,006 
178,871 

44,990 
12,194 
188 

12,776 

3 

10 

~8 

- 

Ohio               

Rhode  Island  

11,350 

64,709 

47,648 
1,969 
74,323 

888 

69,274 
15,438 
218 
74,681 
161 

12 

4 

33,808 
1,929 
86,110 

6,849 

16,290 
65,021 

5 
5 

— 

15 

Virginia         

72 

Total               

~39~ 

1,866,352 

1,375,157 

847,514 

587,830 

180 

12 

*  The  electors  were  chosen  by  the  legislature. 

\-  * 

The  election  of  Lincoln  was  the  second  great  political  revo- 
lution in  the  history  of  the  country,  and  it  came  with  fear- 
ful import.  The  revolution  won  by  Jefferson  in  1800  simply 
displaced  the  Federalists,  gave  authority  to  the  Republicans, 
and  liberalized  the  policy  of  the  Government.  The  revolu- 
tion that  brought  Lincoln  into  the  Presidency  was  the  first 
popular  expression  emphasizing  the  purpose  of  the  nation  to 
halt  the  extension  of  slavery ;  and  while  the  Republican  pol- 
icy meant  no  more  than  to  prevent  slavery  extension,  it  was 
well  understood  in  the  South  that  it  menaced  the  safety  of 
slavery  even  where  it  was  then  undisputed.  The  Southern- 
ers had  little  tolerance  for  Republicanism.  They  had  seen 
it  grow  from  the  despised  Abolition  cranks  to  the  Republican 
party  that  had  dominated  Congress  before  it  elected  a  Presi- 
dent. Republicans  in  Congress  were  seldom  treated  with 
respect  by  their  Southern  associates,  and  often  the  most  wan- 

176 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

ton  and  flagrant  insults  were  given  them  not  only  on  the 
floor  of  the  House  but  on  other  occasions. 

Personal  encounters  disgraced  the  record  of  both  House 
and  Senate,  and  the  most  respectable  term  the  South  ever 
applied  to  antislavery  members  was  that  of  "  Black  Repub- 
lican." Even  in  Philadelphia,  that  became  the  most  loyal  of 
all  cities,  nearly  the  whole  commercial  and  financial  interests 
were  arrayed  against  Lincoln,  because  they  regarded  the 
Republican  party  as  disturbers  of  national  tranquillity  and  of 
all  the  interests  of  trade.  So  strong  was  the  conservative 
element  among  the  old  Whigs  in  that  State  that  the  name  of 
Republican  had  to  be  discarded.  Curtin  was  elected  Gov- 
ernor as  the  candidate  of  the  "  People's  party,"  and  the  del- 
egates to  the  Chicago  convention  represented  only  that  or- 
ganization. When  Lincoln's  election  was  announced  the 
Democrats  could  not  reconcile  themselves  to  the  mastery  of 
a  party  they  had  so  openly  and  persistently  despised. 

I  witnessed  an  interesting  episode  in  Philadelphia,  on  the 
night  of  Curtin's  election.  The  Prince  of  Wales  was  then 
on  a  visit  to  this  country,  and  had  just  arrived  at  the  Con- 
tinental Hotel  in  Philadelphia.  My  headquarters  as  chair- 
man of  the  Lincoln  committee  were  at  the  Girard  House  im- 
mediately opposite,  and  I  saw  the  handsome  young  Prince, 
then  a  picture  of  manly  vigor  and  beauty,  stand  on  the 
Chestnut  Street  balcony  for  an  hour,  surrounded  by  his 
suite  of  nobles,  watching  what  he  regarded  as  the  dying 
agonies  of  the  Republic.  The  main  streets  of  the  city  were 
crowded  with  shouting,  wrangling,  and  rioting  partisans,  and 
the  Prince  obviously  congratulated  himself  that  he  had  just 
happened  in  this  country  in  time  to  see  its  angry  dissolution. 
He  witnessed  the  riotous  enthusiasm  of  the  Republicans,  and 
the  much  more  riotous  madness  of  the  defeated  party,  until 
he  wearied  of  it,  and  he  was  astounded  the  next  morning  to 
discover  that  the  city  was  as  quiet  and  serene  as  an  average 
Philadelphia  Sunday. 

Lincoln  brought  to  the  Presidency  the  strongest  person- 
ality that  has  ever  adorned  the  highest  trust  of  the  nation. 
It  is  studied  with  increased  interest  as  time  passes  onward  in 
its  flight,  and  it  is  worthy  of  extended  notice  here.  I  had 
not  met  Lincoln  personally  until  after  his  election.  I  had  at- 
tended the  Chicago  convention  as  chairman  of  the  State  com- 
mittee along  with  Curtin,  and  bore  some  humble  part  in  aid- 
ing the  nomination  of  Lincoln ;  and  my  correspondence  with 

177 


'     OUR  PRESIDENTS' 

him  during  the  campaign  would  have  made  one  of  the  most 
interesting  of  Lincoln  relics,  but  unfortunately  the  letters 
were  destroyed  when  Chambersburg,  including  my  own 
house,  was  burnt  by  General  McCausland. 

Pennsylvania  was  the  battle  ground,  and  he  naturally  tried 
to  keep  in  close  touch  with  it.  His  letters  were  always 
kind  and  hopeful,  sometimes  quaint,  and  always  going 
directly  to  the  point  of  winning  the  State.  He  communicated 
with  me  every  week  from  the  time  I  opened  headquarters 
early  in  June  until  after  the  election,  and  I  prized  more 
highly  the  Lincoln  correspondence  of  that  struggle  than  any 
of  all  the  many  valued  letters  I  have  ever  received.  I  think 
it  safe  to  say  that  he  was  as  familiar  with  the  details  of  the 
contest  in  Pennsylvania  as  I  was  myself,  and  knew  every 
element  of  strength  and  every  element  of  weakness  in  our 
lines.  He  was  never  enthusiastic  or  sentimental,  but  always 
thoroughly  practical,  with  occasional  flashes  of  his  exquisite 
Western  humor. 

After  such  intercourse  with  Lincoln,  lasting  from  the  be- 
ginning to  the  close  of  the  great  battle  of  his  life,  I  of  course 
had  formed  what  I  supposed  to  be  an  intelligent  and  accurate 
estimate  of  the  character  and  attributes  of  the  man,  but  I 
never  had  a  glimpse  of  the  grandeur  of  Lincoln's  character 
until  I  met  him  personally  at  his  home  in  Springfield  on  the 
3d  of  January,  1861.  A  contest  over  the  appointment  of 
Cameron  to  the  Cabinet,  in  which  I  took  part,  in  opposition 
to  Cameron,  made  Lincoln  telegraph  me  on  the  2d  of  Janu- 
ary to  visit  him  at  Springfield.  I  was  then  a  member  of  the 
Senate ;  the  Legislature  was  just  about  to  meet,  and  I  made 
as  hurried  a  trip  as  possible.  I  reached  Springfield  about 
seven  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  the  3d,  having  telegraphed 
him  in  advance  that  I  would  arrive  at  that  hour  and  must  re- 
turn at  eleven.  I  went  from  the  depot  directly  to  his  house, 
and  when  I  rang  the  bell  the  door  was  opened  by  Lincoln 
himself,  and  I  saw  no  other  person  during  my  stay. 

I  think  I  did  not  well  conceal  my  disappointment  when  I 
stood  before  him  in  the  dimly  lighted  hall  looking  up  into 
the  face  of  the  new  President.  There  was  nothing  in  his 
appearance  calculated  to  make  a  favorable  impression  at  first 
sight.  He  was  illy  clad,  ungraceful  in  movement,  and  his 
rudely  chiselled  face,  that  was  always  sad  in  repose,  clearly 
portrayed  the  fretting  anxieties  which  his  election  to  the 
Presidency  to  meet  the  severest  trial  of  the  Republic  had 

178 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

brought  upon  him.  He  had  then  decided  to  appoint  Cameron 
to  the  Cabinet,  against  which  I  had  protested,  and  he  had 
sent  for  me  to  know  whether  there  were  good  reasons  for  a 
change  of  judgment.  We  sat  down  in  his  plainly  furnished 
parlor,  and  for  an  hour  or  more  he  heard  me  patiently  with 
evident  interest.  During  this  part  of  the  conversation  he 
said  but  little,  but  gave  many  incisive  questions  to  be 
answered.  He  did  not  exhibit  a  single  trace  of  humor,  and  it 
seemed  to  me  most  of  the  time  as  if  I  were  making  my  ap- 
peal to  a  sphinx.  He  gave  no  sign  whatever  as  to  whether 
I  impressed  him  or  not,  and  when  I  left  him  I  had  not  a 
single  clue  by  which  to  judge  what  importance  he  had  at- 
tached to  my  arguments,  but  before  he  retired  that  night  he 
wrote  a  letter  to  Cameron  revoking  the  appointment,  and 
suggesting  that  Cameron  should  regard  the  position  as  ten- 
dered, and  give  a  letter  of  declination. 

In  that  letter,  which  can  be  found  in  Nicolay  and  Hay's 
"  Life  of  Lincoln,"  he  uses  this  language :  "  You  will  say  this 
conies  of  an  interview  with  McClure,and  this  is  partly  but  not 
wholly  true/'  The  result  was  that  the  position  of  Secretary 
of  War  was  held  open  until  Lincoln  arrived  in  Washington, 
when  Seward  and  Weed  finally  prevailed  upon  the  President 
to  give  the  position  to  Cameron.  He  advised  me  of  his  pur- 
pose after  he  had  decided,  and  was  much  gratified  for  the 
assurance  that  no  factional  hostility  would  be  made  against 
either  Cameron  or  the  administration.  Seward  and  Weed 
were  much  embittered  at  Curtin  and  Lane  for  defeating 
Seward  at  Chicago,  and  they  dealt  a  retributive  blow  by 
securing  the  appointment  of  Cameron,  as  Cameron  and  Cur- 
tin  were  never  in  political  accord  after  the  bitter  struggle 
they  had  for  Senator  in  1855. 

It  was  not  until  after  the  question  of  the  Cabinet  appoint- 
ment was  dismissed  that  I  had  an  opportunity  to  see  some- 
thing of  Lincoln  as  he  was.  It  was  my  part  to  do  the  talking 
on  the  Cabinet  issue ;  after  that  it  was  his  part  to  talk,  and  he 
gradually  developed  all  the  great  and  grand  qualities  of  his 
character.  He  was  appalled  at  the  prospect  of  civil  war  be- 
ing the  sequel  of  his  election  to  the  Presidency,  and  above 
all  things,  he  wanted  peace  if  consistent  with  the  line  of  duty. 
He  fully  appreciated  that  he  was  confronted  by  graver  prob- 
lems than  had  ever  beset  American  statesmanship,  and  that 
he  was  compelled  to  meet  the  great  issue  of  the  threatened 
dismemberment  of  the  Republic. 

179 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

He  was  painfully  and  profoundly  impressed  with  the  fear- 
ful responsibility  that  devolved  upon  him,  but  the  first  great 
attribute  of  his  character  developed  by  this  discussion,  or 
rather  by  his  statements  of  the  situation,  was  his  unswerving 
fidelity  to  duty  regardless  of  all  personal  or  political  inter- 
ests, and  even  regardless  of  life  itself.  He  well  understood 
that  armed  rebellion  was  apparently  inevitable,  and  that  he 
must  meet  the  most  appalling  peril  that  ever  confronted  our 
free  government,  and  one  for  which  neither  the  history  of 
this  Government  nor  of  any  other  Government  of  the  world 
furnished  precedents  to  guide  him  in  his  course.  The  right 
of  secession  had  been  claimed  and  denied  since  the  formation 
of  the  Constitution  with  almost  equal  ability  and  integrity, 
and  there  he  was,  crowned  with  the  laurels  of  the  highest 
trust  of  the  civilized  world,  with  the  prospect  of  a  nearly 
united  South  in  rebellion,  and  the  North  divided — and  in- 
tensely divided — as  to  the  power  of  the  Government  to  main- 
tain the  unity  of  the  States  by  force.  I  heard  Lincoln  in  this 
conversation  but  a  short  time  before  I  discovered  that  he 
had  but  one  purpose,  from  which  no  interests  could  swerve 
him,  and  that  was  to  perform  his  duty  with  fidelity  and  ac- 
cept the  consequences.  He  felt  that  as  a  Republican  Presi- 
dent he  would  owe  it  to  his  party  to  give  it  the  advantages  of 
power ;  yet  he  understood  that  the  Government  could  not  be 
maintained  without  the  co-operation  of  the  Democrats. 

My  next  meeting  with  Lincoln  was  under  circumstances 
well  calculated  to  study  his  true  character  intelligently.  I 
was  one  of  a  dozen  or  more  who  dined  with  him  at  what  is 
now  the  Commonwealth  Hotel  in  Harrisburg  on  the  evening 
of  the  22d  of  February,  1861.  The  dinner  was  given  by 
Governor  Curtin  to  the  President-elect,  and  I  believe  that 
none  of  the  guests  are  now  living  but  myself.  The  story  of 
Lincoln's  sudden  departure  on  the  memorable  midnight 
journey  to  Washington  from  Harrisburg  on  that  night  has 
been  many  times  told,  and  in  no  instance  with  entire  cor- 
rectness. He  arrived  in  Philadelphia  on  the  evening  of  Feb- 
ruary 21,  and  the  published  programme  of  his  journey  to 
Washington  was  from  Philadelphia  to  Harrisburg  on  the 
22d,  and  from  Harrisburg  to  Washington  by  the  Northern 
Central  Railroad  through  Baltimore  on  the  23d.  He  was 
met  in  Philadelphia  by  Mr.  Fenton,  President  of  the  Phila- 
delphia, Wilmington  and  Baltimore  Railroad,  and  by  Pinker- 
ton's  detectives,  who  informed  him  that  he  could  not  pass 

180 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

through  Baltimore  according  to  his  published  programme 
without  inviting  assassination,  that  had  been  deliberately 
planned;  and  the  son  of  Senator  Seward  brought  Lincoln 
a  letter  signed  by  Seward  and  General  Scott,  insisting  that 
he  should  change  his  route,  because  he  could  not  safely  pass 
through  Baltimore  if  the  time  of  his  coming  were  known. 

He  was  earnestly  urged  to  omit  his  Harrisburg  appoint- 
ment and  take  the  eleven  o'clock  train  from  Philadelphia  to 
Washington  that  night,  but  he  peremptorily  refused,  and  left 
the  question  to  be  determined  at  Harrisburg.  He  hoisted 
the  flag  on  Independence  Hall  early  on  the  morning  of  the 
22d,  and  delivered  an  address  that  betrayed  none  of  the 
serious  emotions  which  must  have  agonized  him  at  the 
time.  He  arrived  at  Harrisburg  early  in  the  afternoon, 
where  I  was  one  of  the  legislators  to  receive  him,  had  a  re- 
ception and  delivered  a  brief  address  in  the  hall  of  the  House, 
and  soon  after  five  o'clock  he  sat  down  to  the  dinner  at  the 
hotel  as  the  guest  of  Governor  Curtin,  who  was  there  advised 
by  Colonel  Lamon  and  Colonel  Sumner  of  the  information 
received  in  Philadelphia  the  night  before,  and  of  the  neces- 
sity of  considering  the  question  of  changing  his  route. 

Dinner  was  hastily  served,  when  the  servants  were  cleared 
from  the  dining-hall,  and  Governor  Curtin  stated  the  facts  to 
the  dining  guests,  and  insisted  that  Lincoln's  programme 
should  be  changed.  Every  one  present  promptly  responded 
in  approval,  and  the  only  silent  man  at  the  table  was  Lincoln. 
I  sat  near  enough  to  him  to  watch  and  study  his  face,  and 
there  was  not  a  sign  of  agitation  upon  it,  and  when  he  was 
called  upon  to  give  his  views,  it  was  at  once  made  evident 
to  all  that  he  thought  much  more  of  commanding  the  respect 
and  honor  of  the  nation  than  of  preserving  his  life.  His 
answer  was  substantially,  and  I  think  exactly,  in  these 
words :  "  I  cannot  consent.  What  would  the  nation  think  of 
its  President  stealing  into  its  capital  like  a  thief  in  the 
night  ?  "  His  voice  was  clear  and  distinct,  and  his  cool  and 
earnest  manner  made  his  expression  painfully  pathetic. 

Fortunately,  among  the  guests  was  the  late  Colonel 
Thomas  A.  Scott,  and  when  Governor  Curtin  declared  that 
the  question  was  not  one  for  Lincoln  to  decide,  Colonel  Scott 
at  once  proposed  to  take  charge  of  the  new  programme,  and 
send  Lincoln  back  to  Philadelphia  on  a  special  train  in  time 
to  make  the  eleven  o'clock  from  Broad  and  Prime  Streets  to 
Washington  that  night.  Scott  was  a  master  alike  in  keen- 

181 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

ness  of  perception  and  swiftness  of  execution.  He  at  once 
directed  the  Governor  to  take  Lincoln  down  to  the  front  of 
the  hotel,  where  there  were  multitudes  awaiting  to  cheer 
them,  and  loudly  call  a  carriage  to  take  them  to  the  Executive 
Mansion,  as  that  would  be  the  natural  place  for  them  to  go. 
They  entered  the  carriage,  drove  up  along  the  river  front 
toward  the  Executive  Mansion,  and  then  made  a  detour  to 
reach  the  depot  in  thirty  minutes,  as  instructed  by  Colonel 
Scott.  I  accompanied  Colonel  Scott  to  the  depot,  when  he 
first  cleared  one  track  of  his  line  to  Philadelphia,  forbidding 
anything  to  enter  upon  it  until  released,  and  with  his  own 
hands  cut  all  of  the  few  telegraph  wires  which  then  came  into 
Harrisburg.  A  locomotive  and  a  car  were  in  readiness  at  the 
time  appointed  a  square  below  the  depot,  where  Lincoln  and 
Curtin  arrived  with  Colonel  Lamon,  and  Lincoln  and  Lamon 
entered  the  car  for  their  journey.  When  I  shook  hands  with 
Lincoln  and  wished  him  God's  protection  on  his  journey,  he 
was  as  cool  and  deliberate  as  ever  in  his  life. 

Every  precaution  had  been  taken  to  prevent  the  knowledge 
of  a  change  in  Lincoln's  programme  being  known  to  any 
who  might  possibly  communicate  by  telegraph,  and  when 
the  wires  were  all  cut  we  felt  assured  that  unless  Lincoln 
should  be  accidentally  detected  in  Philadelphia,  none  would 
know  of  his  journey  until  he  arrived  at  Washington.  But 
one  person  in  Philadelphia  was  advised  of  the  movement, 
and  he  was  Superintendent  Kenney,  of  the  Philadelphia, 
Wilmington  and  Baltimore  Railroad,  still  prominently  con- 
nected with  its  service,  who  wras  instructed  by  Colonel  Scott 
to  meet  Lincoln  at  the  Pennsylvania  depot  and  conduct  him 
to  the  Broad  and  Prime  station.  Beyond  Superintendent 
Kenney,  no  one  outside  of  the  few  in  Harrisburg  who  had 
arranged  and  started  Lincoln  on  his  journey  had  any  knowl- 
edge of  the  change  in  his  route. 

He  was  received  by  Superintendent  Kenney  in  a  carriage, 
taken  to  the  Broad  and  Prime  station,  where  a  section  of  a 
sleeping  car  had  been  engaged  for  him,  entered  it  without 
attracting  attention,  and  at  six  o'clock  the  next  morning  he 
was  in  Washington.  We  had  a  sleepless  and  a  terribly  long 
and  anxious  night  at  Harrisburg,  but  about  six  o'clock 
Colonel  Scott  reunited  the  wires  in  his  railroad  station,  and 
received  the  despatch :  "  Plums  delivered  Nuts  safely," 
which  announced  the  safe  arrival  of  the  President. 


182 


- 


ANDREW    JOHNSON 


THE  LINCOLN-McCLELLAN  CONTEST 

1864 


THE  average  intelligent  student  of  our  Civil  War  a  gen- 
eration after  the  conflict  ended,  with  Lincoln's  achievements 
in  the  grateful  remembrance  of  every  patriot,  would  natu- 
rally assume  that  Lincoln's  re-election  to  the  Presidency  in 
1864  was  never  in  any  measure  doubtful;  but  in  fact  three 
months  after  his  renomination  in  Baltimore  his  defeat  by 
General  McClellan  was  generally  apprehended  by  his  friends 
and  frankly  conceded  by  Lincoln  himself.  On  the  23d  of 
August,  1864,  he  wrote  the  following  with  his  signature 
appended : 

"  This  morning,  as  for  some  days  past,  it  seems  exceedingly  proba- 
ble that  this  administration  will  not  be  re-elected.  Then  it  will  be  my 
duty  to  co-operate  with  the  President-elect  so  as  to  save  the  Union 
between  the  election  and  the  inauguration,  as  he  will  have  secured 
his  election  on  such  grounds  that  he  cannot  possibly  save  it  after- 
ward." 

This  paper  he  sealed  and  delivered  to  Secretary  Welles 
with  notice  not  to  open  it  until  after  the  election. 

There  was  very  earnest  opposition  to  Lincoln's  renomina- 
tion by  men  of  eminent  ability  and  influential  leadership  in 
the  Republican  party.  Chase,  Wade,  Henry  Winter  Davis, 
and  Horace  Greeley  were  bitterly  opposed  to  accepting  him 
as  the  Republican  candidate  for  the  second  contest,  as  they 
believed  that  he  could  not  be  elected.  In  addition  to  these, 
Sumner  was  not  heartily  for  him ;  Stevens  was  earnestly  op- 
posed to  the  President  because  he  had  not  pressed  confisca- 
tion and  other  punishments  against  the  South,  and  the  ex- 
treme radical  wing  of  the  Republican  party  was  aggressive 
in  its  hostility.  Lincoln's  strength  was  with  the  people,  and 
they  overwhelmed  the  leaders  who  sought  his  overthrow. 

The  only  exhibition  of  weakness  I  ever  saw  in  Lincoln  was 

183 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

exhibited  during  what  might  be  called  the  contest  for  his 
renomination.  There  was,  in  point  of  fact,  no  contest  at  all, 
as  after  all  the  efforts  of  the  opposing  leaders  had  been  ex- 
hausted the  Republican  people  rallied  to  his  support  and  as- 
serted their  mastery.  He  was  painfully  impressed  with  the 
apprehension  that  he  mig;ht  be  defeated  in  the  convention, 
and  on  a  number  of  occasions  I  heard  him  discuss  the  ques- 
tion with  a  degree  of  interest  that  was  painful.  Even  after  a 
majority  of  all  the  delegates  to  the  convention  had  been 
positively  instructed  for  him,  and  certainly  two-thirds  of  the 
remainder  were  publicly  pledged  to  his  support,  he  could  not 
dismiss  the  fears  of  his  possible  defeat. 

I  visited  him  several  times  within  a  month  of  the  conven- 
tion, in  obedience  to  his  telegrams,  when  he  discussed  only 
the  political  dangers  which  beset  him.  He  told  me  that  his 
name  would  go  into  history  darkly  shadowed  by  a  fraternal 
war  that  he  would  be  held  responsible  for  inaugurating  if  he 
were  unable  to  continue  in  office  to  conquer  the  Rebellion  and 
restore  the  Union. 

Lincoln  was  human,  as  are  all  men,  and  a  more  anxious 
candidate  I  have  never  known.  The  last  time  I  conferred 
with  him  on  the  subject  was  within  two  weeks  of  the  meeting 
of  the  convention,  and  I  could  hardly  treat  with  respect  his 
anxiety  about  his  renomination.  He  had  given  close  study 
to  the  election  of  delegates,  and  I  called  his  attention  to  the 
fact  that  a  decided  majority  were  positively  instructed  for 
him,  and  that  he  certainly  knew  that  a  majority  of  the  others 
could  not  be  diverted  from  him.  He  had  to  admit  that  there 
seemed  to  be  no  plausible  reason  for  doubting  the  result,  but, 
with  a  merry  twinkle  of  the  eye,  he  said : 

"  Well,  McClure,  I  don't  quite  forget  that  I  was  nominated 
by  a  convention  that  was  two-thirds  for  the  other  fellow." 

I  had  to  admit  that  he  had  been  nominated  by  a  convention 
that  was  two-thirds  for  Seward,  but  no  such  conditions  could' 
arise  as  presented  themselves  in  the  Seward  fight  to  swerve 
the  convention  from  its  purpose. 

So  anxious  was  he  about  the  situation  that  he  made  the 
very  unreasonable  request  of  me  to  become  a  delegate-at- 
large  from  Pennsylvania  when  I  had  already  been  unan-, 
imously  elected  a  delegate  from  my  Congressional  district. 
I  vainly  attempted  to  convince  him  that  it  mattered  not 
whether  I  was  a  delegate-at-large  or  a  district  delegate,  as 
my  power  to  serve  him  would  be  just  the  same ;  but  he  per- 

184 


AND  HOW  W£  MAKE  THEM 

sisted  in  urging  me  to  go  before  the  State  convention  with 
the  ungracious  request  to  elect  me  a  delegate-at-large — a 
position  that  was  sought  as  one  of  honor — when  I  was 
already  a  member  of  the  delegation  from  my  district. 

The  only  possible  explanation  I  could  conceive  was  that,  as 
Cameron  was  certain  to  be  a  delegate-at-large,  he  desired  me 
to  be  one  with  Cameron,  and  thus  have  both  the  Cameron  and 
Curtin  wings  of  the  party  equally  represented  at  the  head  of 
the  delegation.  Fortunately,  political  conditions  enabled  me 
to  carry  out  his  wish,  and  Cameron  and  I  were  elected  on  the 
ist  ballot  by  a  nearly  unanimous  vote. 

I  never  suspected  Lincoln's  purpose  in  asking  me  to 
change  my  position  as  a  delegate  until  three  days  before  the 
meeting  of  the  convention,  when  I  went  to  Washington  in 
obedience  to  his  summons.  He  then  asked  me  to  vote  for 
the  nomination  of  Andrew  Johnson  for  Vice-President.  He 
had  Cameron  already  committed  to  the  nomination  of  John- 
son as  a  War  Democrat  to  succeed  Hamlin,  but  he  gave  me 
no  intimation  of  Cameron's  position.  I  was  favorable  to  the 
renomination  of  Hamlin,  but  after  hearing  Mr.  Lincoln's 
reasons  for  the  request  he  made  I  would  have  voted  for 
Johnson  in  obedience  to  a  sense  of  public  duty,  although 
Lincoln  was  not  wrong  in  assuming  that  I  was  likely  to  vote 
for  any  candidate  for  Vice-President  he  specially  desired. 
He  was  not  opposed  to  Hamlin,  but  he  knew  that  the  success 
of  the  party  depended  upon  bringing  into  the  Republican 
fold  a  large  body  of  War  Democrats  who  had  never  become 
Republicans,  such  as  Judge  Holt,  General  Dix,  General  But- 
ler, and  Governor  Johnson,  and  he  wished  to  nationalize 
the  Republican  party. 

But  the  conclusive  reason  why  he  desired  the  nomination 
of  Johnson  was  that  it  would  most  effectually  prevent  the 
recognition  of  the  Confederacy  by  England  and  France. 
That  was  the  great  peril  in  the  last  year  of  the  war,  and  Lin- 
coln believed  that  in  no  way  could  the  success  of  the  Govern- 
ment in  the  suppression  of  the  Rebellion  be  so  clearly  pre- 
sented to  the  world  as  by  taking  Andrew  Johnson,  of  Ten- 
nessee, who  had  filled  every  important  position  within  the 
gift  of  his  State,  and  elect  him  to  the  Vice-Presidency  from  a 
reorganized  rebellious  State  in  the  heart  of  the  Confeder- 
acy. It  is  needless  to  say  that,  notwithstanding  my  prejudice 
against  Johnson,  I  agreed  to  support  him;  but  Lincoln's 
caution  prevented  him  from  giving  me  any  intimation  as  to 

185 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

the  attitude  of  Cameron,  who  was  equally  pledged  to  Lin- 
coln in  the  Johnson  cause.  Cameron  and  I  met  at  the  con- 
vention in  Baltimore  on  June  7  without  either  knowing  the 
position  of  the  other,  and  as  our  political  relations  were  not 
of  the  confidential  order,  although  our  personal  intercourse 
was  always  pleasant,  it  required  some  diplomacy  for  us  to 
reach  an  understanding.  Cameron  had  been  committed  to 
Hamlin,  with  whom  he  had  served  in  the  Senate,  and  was 
somewhat  embarrassed,  and  he  suggested  that  while  he  was 
friendly  to  Hamlin  he  did  not  believe  that  he  could  be  nom- 
inated, to  which  I  agreed.  He  then  proposed  that  we  should 
line  up  the  two  factions  of  the  State  in  the  delegation  and 
cast  a  unanimous  vote  for  Hamlin  when  the  State  was  first 
called,  and  change  it  to  a  unanimous  vote  for  Johnson 
when  the  roll-call  ended,  to  which  I  readily  assented;  and 
with  some  effort  we  had  a  harmonious  delegation  on  that 
line  with  the  exception  of  Thaddeus  Stevens,  who  sat  beside 
me  when  I  cast  my  vote  for  Johnson,  and  who  with  a  grim 
smile  said  to  me :  "  Can't  you  find  a  candidate  for  Vice- 
President  without  going  down  into  a  d d  rebel  prov- 
ince ?  "  The  vote  of  the  State  was,  however,  recorded  unani- 
mously for  Johnson,  and  it  was  the  like  efforts  of  Lincoln  in 
his  very  quiet  and  earnest  way  that  made  Andrew  Johnson 
Vice-President  and  President. 

-The  Republican  National  Convention  met  in  Baltimore  on 
the  7th  of  June,  1864^  and  the  venerable  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  J. 
Breckinridge,  of  Kentucky,  was  temporary  president  and 
Ex-Governor  William  Dennison,  of  Ohio,  permanent  presi- 
dent. Every  State  outside  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  and 
some  that  were  partially  inside  of  it,  were  fully  represented. 
There  was  no  contest  for  President,  as  the  nomination  of 
Lincoln  was  conceded.  He  received  the  unanimous  vote  of 
every  State  on  1st  ballot  with  the  exception  of  the  Missouri 
delegation,  that  was  instructed  for  Grant,  and  that  was 
promptly  changed  to  Lincoln  to  make  the  vote  unanimous. 
There  was  a  considerable  undercurrent  in  the  convention 
that  was  not  friendly  to  Lincoln,  but  so  powerless  that  no 
attempt  was  made  to  assert  it. 

The  important  contest  of  the  convention  was  for  Vice- 
President.  Until  a  short  time  before  the  meeting  it  was 
generally  expected  that  Vice-President  Hamlin  would  be  re- 
nominated  with  President  Lincoln;  but  when  the  delegates 
came  together,  opposition  to  Hamlin  was  developed  and 

186 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

unexpectedly  to  many  of  the  members,  and  it  soon  became 
evident  that  a  powerful  organization  had  been  quietly  crys- 
tallized to  nominate  Andrew  Johnson,  of  Tennessee,  then 
Military  Governor  of  that  State.  The  ist  ballot  gave  Andrew 
Johnson  200  and  150  for  Hamlin  and  108  for  Dickinson,  with 
6 1  votes  scattered ;  but  before  the  ballot  closed  Pennsylvania 
led  off  by  changing  from  Hamlin  and  giving  a  unanimous 
vote  for  Johnson.  Stevens  was  opposed  to  the  change,  but 
finding  himself  alone  in  the  delegation,  he  permitted  his  vote 
to  be  recorded  with  the  majority.  Other  changes  were  made, 
and  the  ist  and  only  ballot  was  finally  announced  as  494 
for  Johnson,  17  for  Dickinson,  and  9  for  Hamlin.  The  fol- 
lowing platform  was  prepared  and  reported  to  the  convention 
by  Henry  J.  Raymond,  of  New  York,  and  unanimously 
adopted : 

1.  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  highest  duty  of  every  American  citizen 
to  maintain  against  all  their  enemies  the  integrity  of  the  Union,  and 
the  permanent  authority  of  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United 
States;  and  that,  laying  aside  all  differences  of  political  opinion, 
we  pledge  ourselves  as  Union  men,  animated  by  a  common  senti- 
ment, and  aiming  at  a  common  object,  to  do  everything  in  our  power 
to  aid  the  Government  in  quelling  by  force  of  arms  the  rebellion 
now  raging  against  its  authority,  and  in  bringing  to  the  punishment 
due  to  their  crimes  the  rebels  and  traitors  arrayed  against  it. 

2.  Resolved,  That  we  approve  the  determination  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  not  to  compromise  with  rebels,  or  to  <0(frer 
them  any  terms  of  peace,  except  such  as  may  be  based  upon  an  un- 
conditional surrender  of  their  hostility  and  a  return  to  their  just 
allegiance  to  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States ;  and 
that  we  call  upon  the  Government  to  maintain  this  position,  and  to 
prosecute  the  war  with  the  utmost  possible  vigor  to  the  complete 
suppression  of  the  rebellion,  in  full  reliance  upon  the  self-sacrificing 
patriotism,  the  heroic  valor,  and  the  undying  devotion  of  the  Ameri- 
can people  to  their  country  and  its  free  institutions. 

3.  Resolved,    That  as  slavery  was  the  cause,  and  now  constitutes 
the  strength  of  this  rebellion,  and  as  it  must  be,  always  and  every- 
where,  hostile  to  the  principles  of  republican  government,   justice 
and  the  national  safety  demand  its  utter  and  complete  extirpation 
from  the  soil  of  the  Republic ;  and  that,  while  we  uphold  and  main- 
tain the  acts  and  proclamations  by  which  the  Government,  in  its 
own  defence,  has  aimed  a  deathblow  at  this  gigantic  evil,  we  are  in 
favor,  furthermore,  of  such  amendment  to  the  Constitution,  to  be 
made  by  the  people  in  conformity  with  its  provisions,  as  shall  ter- 
minate  and   forever   prohibit   the   existence  of   slavery   within   the 
limits  or  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States. 

4.  Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  American  people  are  due  to 
the  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  army  and  navy  who  have  perilled 
their  lives  in  defence  of  their  country  and  in  vindication  of  the  honor 
of  its  flag ;  that  the  nation  owes  to  them  some  permanent  recognition 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

of  their  patriotism  and  their  valor,  and  ample  and  permanent  pro- 
vision for  those  of  their  survivors  who  have  received  disabling 
and  honorable  wounds  in  the  service  of  the  country;  and  that  the 
memories  of  those  who  have  fallen  in^its  defence  shall  be  held  in 
grateful  and  everlasting  remembrance. 

5.  Resolved,  That  we  approve  and  applaud  the  practical  wisdom, 
the   unselfish   patriotism,    and    the   unswerving   fidelity    with    which 
Abraham  Lincoln  has  discharged,  under  circumstances  of  unparal- 
leled difficulty,  the  great  duties  and  responsibilities  of  the  Presiden- 
tial office;  that  we  approve  and  endorse,  as  demanded  by  the  emer- 
gency and  essential  to  the  preservation  of  the  nation  and  as  within 
the  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  the  measures  and  acts  which  he 
has  adopted  to  defend  the  nation  against  its  open  and  secret  foes ; 
that  we  approve,  especially,  the  proclamation  of  emancipation  and 
the  employment  as  Union  soldiers  of  men  heretofore  held  in  slavery ; 
and  that  we  have  full  confidence  in  his  determination  to  carry  these 
and  all  other  constitutional  measures  essential  to  the  salvation  of 
the  country  into  full  and  complete  effect. 

6.  Resolved,   That   we   deem   it   essential   to   the   general    welfare 
that  harmony  should  prevail  in  the  national  councils,  and  we  regard 
as  worthy  of  public  confidence  and    official    trust    those    only    who 
cordially    endorse    the    principles    proclaimed    in    these    resolutions, 
and    which    should    characterize  the  administration  of  the  Govern- 
ment. 

7.  Resolved,  That  the  Government  owes  to  all  men  employed  in 
its  armies,  without  regard  to  distinction  of  color,   the  full  protec- 
tion of  the  laws  of  war;  and  that  any  violation  of  these  laws,  or  of 
the  usages  of  civilized  nations  in  time  of  war,  by  the  rebels  now  in 
arms,  should  be  made  the  subject  of  prompt  and  full  redress. 

8.  Resolved,    That    foreign   immigration,    which    in    the   past   has 
added   so  much  to  the   wealth,   development  of  resources,   and   in- 
crease of  power  to  this  nation — the  asylum  of  the  oppressed  of  all 
nations — should  be  fostered  and  encouraged  by  a  liberal  and  just 
policy. 

9.  Resolved,  That  we  are  in  favor  of  a  speedy  construction  of  the 
railroad  to  the  Pacific  coast. 

10.  Resolved,   That  the  national   faith,  pledged   for  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  public  debt,  must  be  kept  inviolate,  and  that  for  this 
purpose    we    recommend    economy    and    rigid  responsibility  in  the 
public  expenditures,  and  a  vigorous  and  just  system  of  taxation; 
and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  loyal  State  to  sustain  the  credit  and 
promote  the  use  of  the  national  currency. 

11.  Resolved,  That  we  approve  the  position  taken  by  the  Govern- 
ment, that  the  people  of  the  United  States  can  never  regard  with 
indifference  the  attempt  of  any  European  power  to  overthrow   by 
force    or  to  supplant  by  fraud    the  institutions  of  any  republican 
Government  on  the  western  continent ;  and  that  they  will  view  with 
extreme  jealousy,   as   menacing  to   the  peace  and   independence   of 
their  own  country,  the  efforts  of  any  such  power  to  obtain  new  foot- 
holds  for  monarchical  governments,   sustained  by   foreign   military 
force,  in  near  proximity  to  the  United  States. 

The  sixth  resolution,  read  in  the  light  of  the  present,  would 
seem  to  be  a  very  harmless  and  proper  expression  on  general 

188 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

principles,  but  every  member  of  the  convention  voted  for  it, 
well  understanding  that  it  meant  a  demand  from  the  supreme 
authority  of  the  party  that  Montgomery  Blair  should  retire 
from  the  position  of  Postmaster-General.  He  was  not  in 
harmony  with  the  policy  of  the  administration,  but  Lincoln 
hesitated  to  remove  him,  as  their  personal  relations  were 
always  pleasant.  Some  weeks  after  the  convention  had 
adjourned  the  more  earnest  opponents  of  Postmaster-General 
Blair  were  disappointed  that  Lincoln  did  not  remove  him, 
and  several  of  them  called  upon  Lincoln  to  explain  why  he 
had  not  obeyed  the  command  of  the  party.  Lincoln  answered 
that  he  fully  recognized  the  right  of  the  Republican  party, 
through  its  highest  tribunal,  to  instruct  him  as  to  members 
of  the  Cabinet,  but  he  added,  with  a  significant  twinkle  of 
the  eye,  that  those  resolutions  related  to  the  next  adminis- 
tration and  not  to  the  present.  Soon  thereafter,  however, 
Mr.  Blair  resigned,  and  Governor  Dennison,  of  Ohio,  suc- 
ceeded him. 

The  Democratic  convention  met  in  Chicago  on  August  29, 
and  Horatio  Seymour  was  permanent  president.  It  was 
on  the  23d  of  the  same  month  that  Lincoln  had  written 
the  paper  before  referred  to,  expressing  his  settled  belief 
that  he  would  be  defeated.  Grant  had  been  hammering 
away  between  the  Wilderness  and  the  James  with  appalling 
sacrifice  of  life  and  without  visible  substantial  results.  Sher- 
man had  been  fighting  his  way  toward  Atlanta,  and  had 
never  won  anything  approaching  a  victory  over  Johnson. 
Thus  the  summer  was  well-nigh  ended  without  the  inspira- 
tion of  victory,  and  the  long,  fearful  strain  and  sacrifice 
suffered  by  the  people  made  many  patriotic  hearts  inclined 
to  accept  peace  on  any  reasonable  terms. 

The  Democratic  convention  thus  met  just  when  the  country 
was  most  profoundly  impressed  with  the  terrible  sacrifices 
of  war  and  the  apprehension  that  the  military  power  of  the 
Confederacy  could  not  be  conquered.  It  was  this  condition 
that  made  the  Democrats  commit  the  fatal  blunder  of  declar- 
ing in  their  national  platform,  "  As  the  sense  of  the  American 
people  that,  after  four  years  of  failure  to  restore  the  Union 
by  the  experiment  of  war,  under  the  pretence  of  a  military 
necessity  of  a  war  power  higher  than  the  Constitution," 
considerations  of  humanity,  liberty,  and  the  public  welfare 
demand  "  that  immediate  efforts  be  made  for  a  cessation  of 
hostilities  with  a  view  to  an  ultimate  convention  of  all  the 

189 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

States."  Had  the  election  been  held  at  that  time,  McClellan 
would  have  been  elected,  but  the  delegates  from  the  Demo- 
cratic convention  when  on  their  way  home  after  their  fatal 
deliverance  against  the  war  met  the  people  at  every  city  and 
village  cheering  to  the  echo  over  the  capture  of  Atlanta,  and 
by  night  they  found  almost  a  continuous  line  of  torches 
displayed  by  crowds  cheering  themselves  hoarse  over  the 
great  victory  that  was  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  the  war. 

It  was  universally  accepted  by  the  Democrats  before  the 
Chicago  convention  met  that  General  George  B.  McClellan 
would  be  their  candidate.  He  had  been  in  retirement  at 
Orange,  N.  J.,  after  he  had  been  removed  from  the  command 
of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  in  the  fall  of  1862,  and  his 
friends  were  very  enthusiastic  in  his  support.  It  was  believed 
that  he  had  sufficient  flavor  of  the  soldier  to  hold  war 
Democrats,  and  he  was  known  to  be  in  very  positive  antago- 
nism with  the  whole  political  and  war  policy  of  the  President. 
He  was  a  man  of  blameless  character  and  altogether  the 
strongest  candidate  upon  whom  the  Democrats  could  unite. 
The  ist  and  only  ballot  for  President  in  the  convention  gave 
174  votes  to  McClellan,  with  38  for  Thomas  H.  Seymour, 
of  Connecticut,  12  for  Horatio  Seymour,  of  New  York,  with 
J  vote  for  Charles  O' Conor,  of  New  York,  and  ij  votes 
blank.  Changes  were  made  before  the  ballot  closed,  giving 
McClellan  2O2J  votes  to  28J  for  Thomas  H.  Seymour,  and 
the  nomination  of  McClellan  was  made  unanimous  with 
great  enthusiasm. 

There  was  only  one  ballot  for  Vice-President,  as  follows : 


Daniel  W.  Voorhees,  Ind. .  ..13 

J.  H.  Caton 16 

Augustus  C.  Dodge,  Iowa.  . .  9 
John  S.  Phelps,  Mo 8 


James  Guthrie,  Ky 

Geo.  H.  Pendleton,  Ohio. . 
Lazarus  W.  Powell,  Ky. . . 
George  W.  Cass,  Pa 26 


Very  soon  after  the  2d  ballot  began  Mr.  Guthrie's  name 
was  withdrawn,  followed  by  the  withdrawal  of  other  candi- 
dates, and  Mr.  Pendleton  was  nominated  unanimously.  The 
following  platform  was  adopted  with  little  opposition : 

Resolved,  That  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past,  we  will  adhere  with 
unswerving  fidelity  to  the  Union  under  the  Constitution  as  the  only 
solid  foundation  of  our  strength,  security,  and  happiness  as  a  people, 
and  as  a  framework  of  Government  equally  conducive  to  the  wel- 
fare and  prosperity  of  all  the  States,  both  Northern  and  Southern. 

Resolved,   That   this   convention    does   explicitly   declare,    as   the 


190 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

sense  of  the  American  people,  that  after  four  years  of  failure  to 
restore  the  Union  by  the  experiment  of  war,  during  which,  under  the 
pretence  of  a  military  necessity,  or  war  power  higher  than  the  Con- 
stitution, the  Constitution  itself  has  been  disregarded  in  every  part, 
and  public  liberty  and  private  right  alike  trodden  down,  and  the  ma- 
terial prosperity  of  the  country  essentially  impaired — justice,  hu- 
manity, liberty,  and  the  public  welfare  demand  that  immediate 
efforts  be  made  for  a  cessation  of  hostilities,  with  a  view  to  an  ulti- 
mate convention  of  the  States,  or  other  peaceable  means,  to  the 
end  that,  at  the  earliest  practicable  moment,  peace  may  be  restored 
on  the  basis  of  the  Federal  union  of  the  States. 

Resolved,  That  the  direct  interference  of  the  military  authorities 
of  the  United  States  in  the  recent  elections  held  in  Kentucky,  Mary- 
land, Missouri,  and  Delaware  was  a  shameful  violation  of  the  Con- 
stitution;  and  a  repetition  of  such  acts  in  the  approaching  election 
will  be  held  as  revolutionary,  and  resisted  with  all  the  means  and 
power  under  our  control. 

Resolved,  That  the  aim  and  object  of  the  Democratic  party  is  to 
preserve  the  Federal  Union  and  the  rights  of  the  States  unimpaired ; 
and  they  hereby  declare  that  they  consider  that  the  administrative 
usurpation  of  extraordinary  and  dangerous  powers  not  granted  by 
the  Constitution ;  the  subversion  of  the  civil  by  military  law  in 
States  not  in  insurrection ;  the  arbitrary  military  arrest,  imprison- 
ment, trial,  and  sentence  of  American  citizens  in  States  where  civil 
law  exists  in  full  force ;  the  suppression  of  freedom  of  speech  and  of 
the  press ;  the  denial  of  the  right  of  asylum ;  the  open  and  avowed 
disregard  of  State  rights ;  the  employment  of  unusual  test  oaths ; 
and  the  interference  with  and  denial  of  the  right  of  the  people  to 
bear  arms  in  their  defence ;  are  calculated  to  prevent  a  restoration  of 
the  Union  and  the  perpetuation  of  a  Government  deriving  its  just 
powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed. 

Resolved,  That  the  shameful  disregard  of  the  administration  to 
its  duty  in  respect  to  our  fellow-citizens  who  are  now,  and  long  have 
been,  prisoners  of  war  and  in  a  suffering  condition,  deserves  the 
severest  reprobation,  on  the  score  alike  of  public  policy  and  com- 
mon humanity. 

Resolved,  That  the  sympathy  of  the  Democratic  party  is  heartily 
and  earnestly  extended  to  the  soldiery  of  our  army  and  the  sailors 
of  our  navy,  who  are  and  have  been  in  the  field  and  on  the  sea,  under 
the  flag  of  our  country ;  and,  in  the  event  of  its  attaining  power,  they 
will  receive  all  the  care,  protection,  and  regard  that  the  brave  sol- 
diers and  sailors  of  the  Republic  have  so  nobly  earned. 

The  renomination  of  Lincoln  by  the  Republican  National 
Convention  was  so  entirely  assured  early  in  the  year  that 
the  Republican  opponents  of  the  President  made  a  desperate 
effort  to  crystallize  an  opposition  to  Lincoln  of  such  formid- 
able character  as  to  compel  the  national  convention  to  choose 
another  candidate.  The  call  for  the  Republican  convention 
to  meet  at  Baltimore  was  issued  on  the  22d  of  February, 
and  very  active  efforts  were  made  by  the  leaders  of  the 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

opposition  to  place  a  Republican  ticket  in  the  field  before 
Lincoln  could  be  renominated.  A  mass  convention  was 
called,  to  meet  at  Cleveland  on  the  3ist  of  May,  and  some 
three  hundred  and  fifty  responded  to  the  call.  John  Coch- 
rane,  of  New  York,  was  made  permanent  president,  and 
without  the  formality  of  a  ballot  John  C.  Fremont  was 
nominated  for  President  and  John  Cochrane  for  Vice- 
President  by  acclamation.  Both  promptly  accepted  the 
nominations,  but  instead  of  inspiring  Republican  revolt 
against  Lincoln,  as  was  anticipated,  the  nominations  gave 
no  exhibition  of  popular  strength,  and  after  considerable 
conference  between  the  insurgents  and  the  regulars,  Fremont 
and  Cochrane  announced  their  retirement  from  the  contest 
on  the  2 ist  of  September,  and  urged  the  re-election  of 
Lincoln.  The  following  platform  was  adopted  by  the  Fre- 
mont convention : 


First.  That  the  Federal  Union  shall  be  preserved. 

Second.  That  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States  must 
be  observed  and  obeyed. 

Third.  That  the  Rebellion  must  be  suppressed  by  force  of  arms, 
and  without  compromise. 

Fourth.  That  the  rights  of  free  speech,  free  press,  and  the  habeas 
corpus  be  held  inviolate,  save  in  districts  where  martial  law  has 
been  proclaimed. 

Fifth.  That  the  Rebellion  has  destroyed  slavery,  and  the  Federal 
Constitution  should  be  amended  to  prohibit  its  re-establishment, 
and  to  secure  to  all  men  absolute  equality  before  the  law. 

Sixth.  That  integrity  and  economy  are  demanded  at  all  times  in 
the  administration  of  the  Government,  and  that  in  time  of  war  the 
want  of  them  is  criminal. 

Seventh.  That  the  right  of  asylum,  except  for  crime  and  sub- 
ject to  law,  is  a  recognized  principle  of  American  liberty;  that 
any  violation  of  it  cannot  be  overlooked,  and  must  not  go  unre- 
buked. 

Eighth.  That  the  national  policy  known  as  the  "  Monroe  Doc- 
trine" has  become  a  recognized  principle,  and  that  the  establish- 
ment of  an  anti-republican  government  on  this  continent  by  any 
foreign  power  cannot  be  tolerated. 

Ninth.  That  the  gratitude  and  support  of  the  nation  are  due  to 
the  faithful  soldiers  and  the  earnest  leaders  of  the  Union  army  and 
navy  for  their  heroic  achievements  of  deathless  valor  in  defence  of 
our  imperilled  country  and  civil  liberty. 

Tenth.  That  the  one-term  policy  for  the  Presidency  adopted  by 
the  people  is  strengthened  by  the  force  of  the  existing  crisis,  and 
should  be  maintained  by  constitutional  amendments. 

Eleventh.  That  the  Constitution  should  be  so  amended  that  the 
President  and  Vice-President  shall  be  elected  by  a  direct  vote  of  the 
people. 

I92 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


Twelfth.  That  the  question  of  the  reconstruction  of  the  rebellious 
States  belongs  to  the  people,  through  their  representatives  in  Con- 
gress, and  not  to  the  Executive. 

Thirteenth.  That  the  confiscation  of  the  lands  of  the  rebels,  and 
their  distribution  among  the  soldiers  and  actual  settlers,  is  a  meas- 
ure of  justice. 

The  country  was  prepared,  at  the  time  the  Democratic 
platform  was  adopted,  to  receive  its  demands  relating  to  the 
war  with  some  respect,  but  the  aspect  of  the  contest  was 
speedily  changed  by  Sherman's  capture  of  Atlanta  and 
Sheridan's  brilliant  victories  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley. 
General  McClellan  and  his  friends  appreciated  the  unfortu- 
nate expression  of  the  convention  against  the  war,  that  was 
made  very  generally  odious  among  loyal  people  by  the 
thrilling  victories  of  the  army,  and  in  his  letter  of  acceptance, 
that  ne  delayed  long  enough  to  give  the  fullest  consideration 
to  the  subject,  he  plainly  dissented  from  the  war  plank  of 
the  platform.  He  said :  "  I  could  not  look  in  the  face  of  my 
gallant  comrades  of  the  army  and  navy  who  have  survived 
so  many  bloody  battles  and  tell  them  that  their  labors  and 
the  sacrifice  of  so  many  of  our  slain  and  wounded  brethren 
had  been  in  vain,  that  we  had  abandoned  that  Union  for 
which  we  have  so  often  perilled  our  lives;"  to  which  he 
added :  "  No  peace  can  be  permanent  without  union." 

While  the  contest  had  been  fairly  doubtful  and  at  times 
exceedingly  gloomy  for  Lincoln,  the  victories  of  Sherman 
and  Sheridan  caused  a  sudden  tidal  wave,  that  utterly  over- 
whelmed McClellan  and  left  him  the  worst  defeated  candi- 
date of  history  in  any  contested  election,  receiving  only  21 
electoral  votes  to  212  for  Lincoln.  The  following  table 
gives  the  popular  and  electoral  vote,  with  the  soldier  vote 
in  a  separate  table,  as  cast  in  the  field : 


STATES. 

POPULAR  VOTE. 

ARMY  VOTE. 

ELECT.  VOTE. 

Abraham 
Lincoln, 
Repub- 
lican. 

George  B. 
McClellan, 
Democrat. 

Abra- 
ham 
Lincoln, 
Repub- 
lican. 

George  B. 
McClellan, 
Democrat. 

Lin- 
coln. 

Me- 
Clellan 

California 

62,134 
44,693 
8,155 
189,487 
150,422 
87,331 

43,841 
42,288 
8,767 
158,349 
130,233 
49,260 

2,600 
15,178 

237 
1,364 

5 
6 

16 
13 

8 

3 

Connecticut  
Delaware.    .  . 

Illinois  

Indiana  

Iowa 

'93 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


STATES. 

POPULAR  VOTE. 

ARMY  VOTE. 

ELECT.  VOTE. 

Abraham 
Lincoln, 
Repub- 
lican. 

George  B. 
McClellan, 
Democrat. 

Abra- 
ham 
Lincoln, 
Repub- 
lican. 

George  B. 
McClellan, 
Democrat. 

Lin- 
coln. 

Mc- 
Clellan 

Kansas 

14,228 
27,786 
72,278 
40,153 
126,742 
85,352 
25,060 
72,991 
9,826 
36,595 
60,723 
368,726 
265,154 
9,888 
296,389 
14,343 
42,422 
23,223 
79,564 

3,871 
64,301 
47,736 
32,739 
48,745 
67,370 
17,375 
31,026 
6,594 
33,034 
68,014 
361,986 
205,568 
8,457 
276,308 
8,718 
13,325 
10,457 
63,875 

1,194 
4,174 
2,800 

9,402 

2,066 

41,146 
26,712 
243 
11,372 

2,823 
741 
321 

2,959 

690 

9,757 
12,349 
49 
2,458 

3 

7 
7 
12 
8 
4 
11 
2 
5 

33 
21 
3 
26 
4 
5 
5 
8 

11 

7 

Kentucky  

Maine     

Maryland  

Massachusetts  .  . 
Michigan 

Minnesota  .  .  . 

Nevada*      

New  Hampshire 
New  Jersey 

New  York 

Ohio        

Oregon 

Pennsylvania  .  .  . 
Rhode  Island  .  .  . 
Vermont  

West  Virginia.  . 
Wisconsin 

Total  

2,213,665 

1,802,237 

116,887 

33,748 

212 

21 

'Nevada  chose  three  electors,  one  of  whom  died  before  election. 


STATES 

SOLDIEF 

i  VOTE. 

Lincoln. 

McClellan. 

Maine  

4,174 

741 

New  Hampshire 

2066 

690 

Vermont 

243 

49 

Pennsylvania   .                  .... 

26,712 

12,349 

Maryland  .         

2,800 

321 

Kentucky         

1,194 

2,823 

Ohio        

41,146 

9,757 

Michigan  . 

9402 

2959 

Iowa 

15  178 

1,364 

Wisconsin 

11,372 

2,458 

California              .              .  .          .        ... 

2,600 

237 

Totals 

116,887 

33,748 

The  army  vote  of  Vermont,  Kansas,  and  Minnesota  was 
not  received  in  time  to  be  taken  into  the  official  count,  and 
part  of  the  vote  of  Wisconsin  was  rejected  for  informality. 

194 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

The  States  of  Tennessee  and  Louisiana  also  held  elections 
and  were  carried  for  Lincoln,  but  their  votes  were  not  neces- 
sary to  the  election  of  the  Republican  ticket,  and  although 
Lincoln  earnestly  desired  that  these  States  should  be  recog- 
nized and  the  votes  counted,  Congress,  by  joint  resolution, 
that  Lincoln  signed  with  great  reluctance,  declared  that  they 
should  not  be  recognized,  and  they  were  omitted  in  the  final 
count  by  Congress. 

Pennsylvania  was  the  only  Republican  State  that  faltered 
in  the  fall  elections  of  1864.  There  was  no  State  ticket  to 
be  chosen,  and  the  Republicans  in  charge  of  the  campaign 
assumed  that  Lincoln  would  carry  the  State  without  extraor- 
dinary efforts,  while  the  friends  of  McClellan,  a  native  of 
the  State,  with  strong  individual  and  social  relations,  made 
exhaustive  efforts  to  give  him  the  victory. 

The  October  election  was  practically  a  stand-off,  and 
Lincoln  telegraphed  me  on  the  morning  after  the  election 
to  come  to  Washington.  He  was  much  distressed  at  the 
attitude  of  our  State,  and  apprehensive  that  New  York,  with 
Horatio  Seymour  as  Governor,  one  of  the  ablest  Democrats 
of  the  country,  might  vote  for  McClellan,  as  Tammany  was 
then  in  the  very  zenith  of  its  power.  I  had  been  Chairman 
of  the  State  Committee  when  Lincoln  was  elected  in  1860, 
and  General  Cameron  was  my  successor  in  1864.  He  was 
thoroughly  competent  for  the  task,  but  evidently  did  not 
appreciate  the  perils  which  confronted  him.  Lincoln  asked 
me  to  join  Cameron  and  devote  the  intervening  month 
between  the  October  and  November  elections  to  assure  a 
victory.  I  answered  that  I  could  not  make  the  suggestion 
to  Cameron,  as  our  political  relations  were  not  especially 
friendly,  to  which  he  replied,  asking  me  whether  I  would 
do  it  if  so  requested  by  Cameron.  I  of  course  assented,  and 
the  following  day  I  received  a  letter  from  Cameron  at  my 
home  in  Chambersburg,  requesting  me  to  join  him,  where 
I  found  Honorable  Wayne  MacVeagh,  who  had  been  the 
Republican  chairman  the  year  before  and  who  was  then  not 
more  friendly  to  Cameron  than  myself.  We  all  united  in 
an  earnest  effort  to  win  the  State,  always  acting  in  entire 
harmony  with  Cameron  and  his  committee. 

I  had  private  quarters  at  the  Continental,  while  Cameron's 
quarters  were  at  the  Girard,  and,  as  requested,  advised 
Lincoln  each  day  of  the  apparent  progress  of  the  battle. 
My  reports  were  not  so  assuring  as  he  desired,  for  the 

195 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

friends  of  McClellan,  inspired  by  the  partial  victory  of 
October,  renewed  their  energies  for  the  November  fight. 
Postmaster-General  Dennison  came  to  see  me  on  a  special 
mission  from  Lincoln  about  two  weeks  before  the  election 
to  learn  the  situation  as  precisely  as  possible,  and  I  had  to 
tell  him  that  I  saw  but  little  hope  of  carrying  the  State  on 
the  home  vote.  The  army  vote  would  doubtless  be  largely 
for  Lincoln  and  give  him  the  State,  but  it  would  be  declared 
a  "bayonet  election,"  and  with  such  a  result  in  Pennsylvania, 
and  New  York  lost,  as  was  possible,  while  Lincoln's  election 
could  not  be  defeated,  as  the  Southern  States  did  not  vote, 
the  moral  power  of  the  new  administration  to  prosecute  the 
war  and  attain  peace  would  be  greatly  impaired.  My  answer 
to  Lincoln  was  that  I  would  go  to  Washington  within  a  few 
days  if  it  should  appear  necessary  to  take  extreme  measures 
to  save  the  State  on  the  home  vote. 

As  the  political  conditions  did  not  improve,  I  telegraphed 
to  Lincoln  that  I  would  meet  him  at  nine  o'clock  in  the 
evening  to  discuss  the  campaign.  I  found  him  nervously 
anxious  about  Pennsylvania,  although  not  doubting  his 
re-election.  He  knew  that  New  York  was  trembling  in  the 
balance  and  might  be  lost,  and  his  fears  were  fully  war- 
ranted, as  he  had  but  little  over  6000  majority  in  a  million 
votes.  I  told  him  that  I  had  not  confidence  in  the  State 
being  carried  by  the  home  vote,  but  that  it  could  be  done 
without  interfering  with  the  military  operations  of  the  army, 
as  Grant  was  then  besieging  Petersburg  and  Sheridan  had 
whipped  the  Confederates  clear  out  of  the  valley.  I  sug- 
gested that  he  should  in  some  way  have  Grant  furlough 
five  thousand  Pennsylvania  soldiers  home  for  twenty  days, 
and  that  Sheridan  should  do  the  same,  as  that  vote  cast  at 
home  would  insure  a  home  majority.  He  hesitated  about 
making  the  request  of  Grant  for  reasons  which  I  could  not 
understand,  and  I  then  suggested  that  General  Meade  was 
a  soldier  and  a  gentleman,  and  that  he  could  safely  send 
an  order  to  him  as  Commander  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
and  that  Meade  would  obey  it  and  permit  the  order  to  be 
returned. 

A  messenger  from  the  War  Office  went  the  next  morning 
to  Meade,  bearing  the  order  from  Lincoln,  brought  it  back 
with  him,  and  fully  five  thousand  Pennsylvania  soldiers  were 
furloughed  to  return  home.  I  said  :  "  How  about  Sheridan?" 
Lincoln's  face  brightened  and  with  great  enthusiasm  he  said : 

196 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

"  Oh,  Phil ;  he's  all  right." 

The  same  order  went  to  Sheridan,  of  which  no  record  was 
ever  kept,  and  Sheridan  sent  five  thousand  of  his  veterans 
home  to  vote  as  they  shot,  and  Lincoln's  majority  on  the 
home  vote  was  5712,  to  which  the  army  vote  added  14,363, 
making  a  total  majority  in  the  State  of  20,075. 

It  is  not  generally  known  how  earnestly  Lincoln  labored 
for  compensated  emancipation.  He  made  earnest  efforts 
to  save  the  Border  States  to  the  Union  by  the  assurance  of 
compensation  for  slaves,  and  even  after  all  the  slave  States 
south  of  the  Potomac  and  the  Ohio  had  joined  the  Confed- 
eracy, he  adhered  to  the  policy  of  compensated  emancipation 
until  the  day  of  his  death.  In  August,  1864,  when  the 
political  situation  presented  a  very  gloomy  aspect,  I  had 
a  long  conference  with  Lincoln  at  the  White  House,  and 
he  then  introduced  the  subject  of  compensated  emancipa- 
tion. 

In  that  conversation  he  gave  me  the  first  intimation  of 
his  purpose  to  try  and  end  the  war  by  paying  the  South 
$400,000,000  as  compensation  for  the  freedom  of  the  slaves. 
He  had  the  proposition  written  out  in  his  own  handwriting, 
but  he  well  knew  that  if  such  a  purpose  on  his  part  were 
made  public,  it  would  make  his  re-election  impossible.  He 
discussed  it  freely  and  very  earnestly,  however,  and  said 
that  he  regarded  compensated  emancipation  as  the  only 
way  to  restore  fellowship  between  the  States.  He  did  not 
doubt  the  ability  of  the  North  to  overthrow  the  military 
power  of  the  Confederacy,  but  what  he  most  feared  was 
that  the  people  of  the  South,  driven  to  desperation  by  the 
severe  sacrifices  they  had  suffered,  and  the  general  desola- 
tion of  their  country,  that  gave  them  no  hope  of  regaining 
prosperity,  would  make  their  armies  disband  into  guerrilla 
squads  and  would  be  implacable  in  their  resentments  against 
the  Government. 

In  all  of  the  many  expressions  I  heard  Lincoln  make  use 
of,  toward  the  close  of  the  war,  he  always  exhibited  an 
earnest  desire  to  do  something  that  would  impressively  teach 
the  Southern  people  that  they  were  not  to  be  held  as  con- 
quered subjects  of  a  despotic  power,  but  were  to  come  back 
into  the  Union  and  enjoy  the  blessings  of  a  reunited  people. 

Lincoln  believed  that  in  no  way  could  he  so  widely  and 
profoundly  impress  the  Southern  people  with  the  desire  of 
the  Government  to  deal  with  them  in  generous  justice  as 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

by  paying  them  $400,000,000  as  compensation  for  the  loss 
of  their  slaves.  I  can  never  forget  the  earnestness  with 
which  he  spoke  of  this  proposition  at  a  time  when  he  did 
not  dare  breathe  it  to  the  public.  He  said  the  war  was 
costing  $4,000,000  a  day,  and  that  it  would  certainly  last 
for  more  than  four  months,  thus  costing  the  Government 
more  than  the  whole  amount  he  would  have  gladly  given  as 
compensation  for  the  freedom  of  the  slaves,  not  to  calculate 
the  sacrifice  of  life  and  destruction  of  property.  He  fretted 
because  he  could  not  convey  to  the  South  what  he  believed 
should  be  done  to  close  the  war  and  enable  them  to  re- 
establish their  homes  and  fruitful  fields.  He  believed  in  his 
theory  of  compensated  emancipation  until  his  death,  and  he 
abandoned  it  only  a  short  time  before  the  surrender  of  Lee. 
He  would  have  suggested  it  to  Vice-President  Stephens,  of 
the  Confederacy,  at  their  City  Point  meeting  in  the  winter 
of  1865,  had  not  Stephens  advised  him  at  the  outset  that  he 
was  instructed  by  Jefferson  Davis  to  entertain  no  proposition 
that  did  not  perpetuate  the  Confederacy,  and  after  his  return 
he  wrote  a  message  to  Congress  in  favor  of  it,  submitted  it 
to  his  Cabinet,  by  which  it  was  nearly  or  quite  unanimously 
disapproved,  and  he  endorsed  upon  it  the  disapproval  of  the 
Cabinet  and  laid  it  away. 

Lincoln  was  the  most  notable  combination  of  sadness  and 
mirth  that  I  ever  met  with  in  any  of  our  public  men.  His 
face  in  repose,  under  all  circumstances,  was  one  of  the 
saddest  I  ever  beheld.  It  would  brighten  in  conversation, 
and  at  times  would  portray  a  measure  of  sorrow  that  could 
not  be  surpassed.  He  was  from  his  youth  much  given  to 
melancholy.  While  he  was  known  as  fond  of  sports  and 
brimful  of  humor,  a  very  large  portion  of  his  life  was 
always  given  to  isolation  and  solitude,  when  he  gave  free 
latitude  to  the  melancholy  tendencies  of  his  mind. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  he  was  always  a  hopeful  man, 
never  pessimistic,  and  always  inclined  when  discussing  any 
question  to  take  the  bright  side.  He  was  severely  conscien- 
tious in  his  convictions  and  in  his  actions.  He  had  faith  in 
the  present  and  greater  faith  in  the  future.  He  had  been  in 
early  life  what  is  now  commonly  called  an  agnostic,  with  a 
strong  inclination  to  atheism,  but  in  his  mature  years  he 
never  exhibited  a  trace  of  it.  I  have  never  known  any  man 
who  had  greater  reverence  for  God  than  Abraham  Lincoln. 
Throughout  his  writings,  political  and  otherwise,  will  be 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

found  multiplied  expressions  of  his  abiding  faith  in  the  Great 
Ruler  of  nations  and  individuals. 

In  a  single  sentence  to  be  found  in  Lincoln's  second  in- 
augural address  the  country  and  the  world  have  the  most 
complete  portrayal  of  his  character.  When  he  was  inau- 
gurated for  a  second  term  as  President,  on  the  4th  of 
March,  1865,  the  military  power  of  the  Confederacy  was 
broken,  and  many  in  his  position  would  have  exhibited  the 
pride  of  the  victor  over  the  vanquished  on  such  an  occasion ; 
but  after  stating  in  the  kindest  and  most  temperate  language 
the  duty  of  himself  and  of  the  patriotic  people  of  the  country 
to  protect  the  Union  against  dismemberment,  he  does  not 
utter  a  word  of  resentment  against  the  South.  "  With  mal- 
ice toward  none;  with  charity  for  all,"  was  the  brief  and 
eloquent  sentence  in  which  he  defined  the  duty  of  those  who 
had  then  substantially  destroyed  the  power  of  the  Rebellion. 
That  beautiful  expression  came  from  the  heart  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  and  it  profoundly  impressed  the  whole  country,  then 
wildly  impassioned  by  the  bitterness  of  fraternal  strife.  He 
knew  the  resentments  which  must  confront  him  in  restoring 
the  shattered  fragments  of  the  Union,  and  his  supreme  desire 
was  to  have  the  bitterness  of  the  conflict  perish  when  peace 
came. 

No  man  who  has  filled  the  Presidential  chair  was  so  vin- 
dictively and  malignantly  defamed  as  was  Lincoln  in  the 
South.  The  opponents  of  the  war  in  the  North  were  guilty 
of  unpardonable  assaults  upon  his  integrity,  his  ability,  and 
his  methods,  but  the  South  had  no  knowledge  of  him,  as  he 
had  filled  no  important  part  in  national  affairs  before  his 
election  to  the  Presidency;  and  his  humble  birth  in  Ken- 
tucky, close  by  the  birthplace  of  Jefferson  Davis,  and  his 
exaggerated  rudeness  of  appearance  and  manner  made  the 
people  of  the  South  ready  to  believe  anything  to  his  discredit. 
He  was  proclaimed  throughout  the  Confederacy  as  a  second 
Nero;  as  a  bloody  and  remorseless  butcher;  as  a  vulgar 
clown  who  met  the  sorrows  of  the  nation  with  ribald  jest. 
Not  a  single  virtue  was  conceded  to  him. 

No  one  could  know  Lincoln  well  without  seeing  some 
features  of  his  home  life.  I  have  seen  him  in  grave  conversa- 
tion with  public  men  on  the  most  momentous  subjects,  when 
'  Tad  "  Lincoln,  his  favorite  boy,  would  rush  into  the  room, 
bounce  on  to  his  father's  lap,  throw  his  arms  around  his  neck, 
and  play  hobby-horse  on  his  foot  regardless  of  all  the  sacred 

199 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

affairs  of  State.  There  never  was  a  frown  from  the  father, 
and  the  fretting  questions  of  even  a  great  war  seemed  to  per- 
ish until  "  Tad  "  had  completed  his  romp.  The  greatest  sor- 
row of  Lincoln's  life  shadowed  the  altar  of  his  own  home, 
and  it  was  one  he  had  to  suffer  in  silence.  The  calamity  that 
befell  Mrs.  Lincoln  after  his  death  was  visible  to  those  who 
had  opportunity  to  see  for  themselves  at  an  early  period  of 
his  administration.  Mrs.  Lincoln  was  mentally  unbalanced, 
but  not  sufficiently  so  to  prevent  the  performance  of  her  so- 
cial functions,  and  her  vagaries  often  led  to  severe  reflections 
upon  the  President,  at  times  even  to  the  extent  of  charging 
her  with  sympathy  for  the  South,  as  her  brothers  were  prom- 
inent in  the  Southern  army. 

I  first  saw  Mrs.  Lincoln  at  Harrisburg  on  the  night  that 
Lincoln  made  his  midnight  journey  to  Washington,  and  the 
greatest  difficulty  we  had  on  that  occasion  was  to  prevent  her 
from  creating  a  scene  that  would  have  given  publicity  to  the 
movement.  I  thought  her  a  fool,  and  was  so  disgusted  with 
her  that  I  never  spoke  to  her  afterward,  although  I  had  fre- 
quently gone  with  ladies  to  her  receptions.  I  wronged  her, 
for  she  was  then  not  wholly  responsible,  and  soon  after  Lin- 
coln's death  the  climax  came,  leaving  her  to  grope  out  the 
remainder  of  her  life  in  the  starless  midnight  of  insanity. 
With  Lincoln's  many  other  sorrows,  considering  his  love  of 
home  and  family,  it  may  be  understood  how  keenly  he  suf- 
fered, and  how  he  was  clouded  by  shadows  for  which  the 
world  could  give  no  relief. 

No  man  ever  came  in  contact  with  Abraham  Lincoln  who 
did  not  learn  to  love,  honor,  and  even  reverence  him.  His 
ablest  political  enemies  ever  paid  the  highest  tributes,  not 
only  to  his  personal  attributes,  but  to  his  masterly  ability,  and 
none  surpassed  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  the  ablest  foeman  Lin- 
coln ever  met,  in  his  appreciation  of  Lincoln's  qualities.  He 
had  to  accept  vastly  the  gravest  responsibilities  ever  put 
upon  any  President  of  the  United  States,  and  I  am  quite  sure 
that  no  other  man  could  have  filled  Lincoln's  place  during 
the  Civil  War  with  equal  safety  to  the  Republic.  Had  he 
been  vindictive  and  resentful  his  fame  would  not  be  without 
blemish  to-day. 

What  was  to  me  the  most  beautiful  tribute  I  have  ever 
heard  paid  to  him  came  from  the  lips  of  Jefferson  Davis, 
when  I  visited  him  at  his  home  in  Mississippi  some  ten  years 
after  the  war.  He  never  tired  of  discussing  the  character 

200 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

and  the  actions  of  Lincoln,  and  asked  me  many  questions 
about  his  personal  qualities.  After  he  had  heard  all  that 
could  be  given  in  the  brief  time  that  I  had,  he  said  with  a 
degree  of  mingled  earnestness  and  pathos  that  few  could 
have  equalled : 

"  Next  to  the  destruction  of  the  Confederacy,  the  death  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  the  darkest  day  the  South  has  ever 
known." 


THE  GRANT-SEYMOUR  CONTEST 

1868 


To  the  casual  reader  of  our  political  history,  the  election 
and  re-election  of  Grant  to  the  Presidency  immediately  after 
the  close  of  the  war  would  seem  to  be  a  result  at  once  logical 
and  inevitable ;  but  there  are  few  of  the  present  day  who  have 
any  knowledge  of  the  many  obstacles  which  confronted 
Grant  in  his  transfer  from  the  highest  military  to  the  highest 
civil  duties  of  the  nation. 

It  is  noted  that  Grant,  the  Great  Captain  of  the  Age,  was 
elected  and  re-elected  by  large  majorities;  that  General 
Hayes,  another  soldier  of  national  fame,  succeeded  him ; 
that  General  Garfield,  a  soldier-statesman,  succeeded  Hayes, 
defeating  Hancock,  the  most  brilliant  Democratic  soldier  of 
the  war,  by  only  a  few  thousands  on  the  popular  vote ;  that 
Elaine,  the  first  civilian  candidate  of  the  party,  was  the  first 
Republican  to  suffer  defeat  after  the  political  revolution  of 
1860;  that  General  Harrison,  another  honored  soldier,  was 
successful  as  the  Republican  candidate  in  1888,  and  that 
Major  McKinley,  now  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Republic, 
carried  his  musket  as  a  private  in  the  flame  of  battle,  and 
came  out  of  the  war  an  officer  promoted  for  gallantry.  With 
such  a  line  of  military  Presidents,  the  natural  assumption  of 
the  student  of  our  political  history  would  be  that  General 
Grant's  election  came  about  because  none  could  question  its 
fitness. 

There  were  very  serious  obstacles  to  Grant's  nomination 
for  the  Presidency  by  the  Republicans  in  1868.  First,  he 
was  not  a  Republican  and  never  had  been.  He  had  never 
voted  a  Republican  ticket,  and  he  never  cast  a  Republican 
ballot  until  after  he  had  been  eight  years  a  Republican  Presi- 
dent. His  last  vote  before  he  re-entered  the  army  was  cast 
for  a  radical  pro-slavery  Democrat,  and  he  did  not  even  sym- 

202 


U.   S.   GRANT 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

pathize  with  Stephen  A.  Douglas  in  1860,  although  he  lived 
m  Illinois,  the  home  of  the  great  Democratic  leader  of  that 
day.  Second,  he  was  resolutely  averse  to  being  a  candidate 
for  the  Presidency.  He  was  General  of  the  Army,  with  free- 
dom to  retire  without  diminution  of  pay ;  he  had  no  political 
training,  and  felt  himself  unfitted  for  a  political  career.  He 
was  honest  and  apparently  fixed  in  his  purpose  not  to  become 
a  candidate.  These  objections  at  first  appeared  to  be  in- 
superable obstacles  to  Grant's  nomination,  but  he  was 
human,  and  had  he  declined  the  Presidency  when  it  was  ap- 
parently within  his  reach,  he  would  have  stood  as  the  only 
man  in  the  history  of  the  Republic  who  had  refused  its 
crown. 

The  Democrats  were  in  a  hopeless  condition,  and  they  at 
once  began  a  systematic  movement  to  make  him  their  candi- 
date. This  alarmed  the  Republicans,  and  they  made  equally 
earnest  and  methodical  efforts  to  make  him  their  leader.  It 
is  doubtful  upon  which  side  General  Grant  would  have  fallen 
had  it  not  been  for  the  early  estrangement  between  President 
Johnson  and  himself.  Johnson  made  repeated  attempts  to 
overslaugh  him  either  directly  or  indirectly.  He  ordered 
Grant  to  Mexico  to  get  him  out  of  the  country,  but  Grant  re- 
fused to  go,  and  he  afterward  made  an  earnest  effort  to 
supersede  Grant  by  calling  General  Thomas  to  the  command 
of  the  army,  but  Thomas  stubbornly  refused  to  consider  the 
call.  As  the  Republicans  were  then  in  bitter  warfare  against 
Johnson,  Grant  logically  found  sympathy  in  Republican  cir- 
cles, and  finally,  with  visible  reluctance,  he  agreed  to  become 
the  candidate  of  the  Republicans.  Had  he  been  nominated 
by  the  Democrats  he  would  have  been  elected,  but  his  admin- 
istration would  have  greatly  conserved  and  liberalized  the 
Democratic  teachings  of  that  day.  His  final  assent  to  be- 
come the  Republican  candidate  for  President  was  obtained 
by  the  late  Colonel  Forney. 

The  assassination  of  Lincoln  and  the  succession  of  Vice- 
President  Johnson  to  the  Presidency  repeated  the  political 
history  of  Tyler  and  Fillmore  in  a  radical  change  of  the  pol- 
icy of  the  Government.  Johnson  started  under  a  cloud  in  his 
career  as  Vice-President.  On  the  day  of  his  inauguration  he 
appeared  in  the  Senate  visibly  intoxicated,  and  delivered  a 
maudlin  harangue  so  disgraceful  that  a  correct  report  was 
never  permitted  to  be  given  to  the  public.  The  report  of  that 
address  as  severely  modified  by  the  omission  of  the  most  of- 

203 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

fensive  expressions  was  highly  discreditable.  He  was  im- 
mediately hurried  away  to  the  country  residence  of  the  elder 
Francis  P.  Blair,  and  there  remained  most  of  the  time  until 
more  than  a  month  later,  when  Lincoln  was  assassinated. 
He  never  attempted  to  resume  his  place  in  the  Senate  as 
presiding  officer,  although  he  was  frequently  in  Washington 
and  was  there  on  the  night  of  the  assassination. 

As  President  he  at  first  startled  the  country  by  the  most 
violent  demands  for  the  punishment  of  all  those  prominently 
engaged  in  the  Rebellion.  His  favorite  declaration  was  that 
"  treason  must  be  made  odious."  It  was  not  long,  however, 
until  his  views  were  materially  changed,  and  he  gradually 
drifted  into  entire  sympathy  with  the  South  and  aggressively 
against  the  policy  of  the  Republicans  in  Congress.  It  was 
this  conflict  between  the  Executive  and  the  legislative 
powers  of  the  Government  that  led  to  the  radical  policy  of 
reconstruction  and  the  wholesale  enfranchisement  of  the  col- 
ored voters  of  the  South.  All  the  reconstruction  measures 
were  vetoed  by  the  President  and  passed  over  his  veto  by  the 
Senate  and  House,  and  the  issue  grew  more  and  more  in  bit- 
terness until  it  culminated  in  the  impeachment  of  Johnson, 
in  which  he  escaped  conviction  by  a  single  vote.  Grant  and 
Johnson  had  an  acrimonious  dispute  when  Grant,  as  Secre- 
tary of  War  ad  interim,  admitted  Stanton  back  to  the  office 
after  the  Senate  had  refused  to  approve  his  removal  by  the 
President,  and  from  that  time  Grant  and  Johnson  never  met 
or  exchanged  courtesies  on  any  other  than  official  occasions, 
where  the  necessity  for  it  was  imperative.  When  the  ar- 
rangements were  about  to  be  made  for  the  inauguration  of 
Grant,  he  peremptorily  refused  to  permit  President  Johnson 
to  accompany  him  in  the  carriage  to  the  Capitol  for  the  in- 
auguration ceremonies,  and  Johnson  did  not  make  his  ap- 
pearance on  that  occasion. 

I  never  met  President  Johnson  but  once  during  his  term 
in  the  White  House.  I  had  met  him  casually  before  and 
during  the  war,  but  cherished  a  strong  prejudice  against  him 
as  an  arch  demagogue  because  of  a  debate  between  him  and 
Senator  Bell,  his  colleague  from  Tennessee,  that  I  happened 
to  hear  in  the  Senate.  Bell  was  one  of  the  ablest  and  most 
dignified  of  Senators,  and  I  never  witnessed  a  more  offensive 
exhibition  of  the  studied  arts  of  the  demagogue  than  John- 
son displayed  in  that  Senatorial  controversy.  It  was  on  some 
phase  of  the  sectional  issue,  and  Bell's  exalted  patriotism  and 

204 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

manly  plea  for  union  and  fellowship  contrasted  with  John- 
son as  the  soaring  eagle  contrasts  with  the  mousing  owl.  I 
had  voted  for  his  nomination  for  Vice-President  in  the  Re- 
publican convention  of  1864,  because  I  surrendered  my  own 
preferences  to  considerations  of  expediency  presented  by 
Lincoln. 

When  he  made  the  disgraceful  exhibition  of  himself  on 
inauguration  day  as  he  appeared  as  Vice-President  in  the 
Senate,  I  published  an  editorial  in  my  Chambersburg  paper 
denouncing  Johnson  as  having  offended  against  the  dignity 
and  decency  not  only  of  our  own  Government,  but  of  civilized 
governments  throughout  the  world,  and  demanded  his  resig- 
nation. Little  more  than  a  month  thereafter  he  became  Pres- 
ident, and  a  troop  of  new  friends  flocked  about  him.  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  he  was  soon  advised  of  the  severe  crit- 
icism I  had  made  upon  the  inauguration  address.  I  did  not 
see  or  hear  from  him  or  communicate  with  him  in  any  way 
until  the  early  fall,  when  Governor  Curtin  informed  me  that 
he  had  received  a  request  from  the  President  for  Curtin  and 
myself  to  visit  him  at  Washington.  My  answer  to  Curtin 
was  that  as  he  was  in  an  official  position  it  was  probably  his 
duty  to  regard  a  request  from  the  President  as  a  command, 
but  as  I  was  not  anybody  of  consequence,  I  would  not  go. 
Within  a  fortnight  a  second  and  more  pressing  request  was 
made  to  Curtin  for  us  to  come  to  Washington  to  confer  with 
the  President  on  the  political  situation.  Curtin  felt  that  we 
should  go.  He  thought  it  possible  that  Johnson  might  yet 
be  saved  from  political  apostasy,  although  I  had  no  confi- 
dence whatever  in  the  future  of  the  administration,  judging 
from  the  surroundings  he  had  invited,  but  I  accompanied  the 
Governor  to  Washington  and  called  upon  the  President. 

At  that  time  Johnson  had  attempted  and  largely  carried 
out  a  scheme  of  reconstruction  of  his  own,  that  had  gradually 
drifted  him  into  very  close  and  sympathetic  relations  with 
the  ruling  class  of  the  South  that  had  been  active  in  rebellion. 
He  had  appointed  provisional  Governors,  Legislatures  had 
been  chosen,  Congressmen  and  Senators  had  been  elected  to 
some  extent,  and  I  was  utterly  surprised  to  find  the  President 
entirely  confident  that  his  scheme  of  reconstruction  would  be 
sanctioned  by  Congress.  I  was  well  informed  by  conference 
with  the  leading  Republicans  of  the  North  as  to  the  policy 
they  would  pursue  in  Congress,  and  I  knew  that  there  was 
not  the  shadow  of  a  chance  for  any  of  his  reconstructed 

205 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

States  to  be  readmitted  into  the  Union  on  the  basis  of  his 
policy. 

Curtin's  more  responsible  official  position  and  general  dis- 
trust made  him  quite  willing  to  avoid  discussion  with  the 
President,  who  opened  the  conversation  by  an  earnest  ap- 
peal to  us  to  give  tranquillity  to  the  country  and  renewed 
prosperity  to  business  by  accepting  his  method  of  reconstruc- 
tion, that  he  always  spoke  of  as  "  my  policy."  I  answered 
by  stating  that  it  would  be  simply  a  waste  of  time  and  effort 
to  attempt  to  maintain  his  policy,  as  not  a  single  Senator  and 
Representative  then  elected  to  the  next  Congress,  or  to  be 
elected  thereafter  by  Southern  States  as  then  reconstructed, 
would  be  admitted  into  Congress.  He  seemed  to  be  utterly 
amazed  at  the  audacity  of  such  a  declaration,  and  informed 
me  in  the  most  imperious  and  insolent  manner  that  every 
State  would  be  restored  to  the  Union  and  to  representation 
in  the  coming  Congress.  I  told  him  that  he  was  suffering 
from  the  common  misfortune  of  power  in  seldom  hearing  the 
truth.  He  exhibited  much  irritation,  and  several  times  walked 
the  full  length  of  the  Executive  Chamber  with  rapid  step,  ap- 
parently to  get  cooling  time  for  his  passion.  He  finally  tem- 
pered the  discussion  by  more  courteous  expression,  and  we 
went  over  the  whole  ground  with  rugged  frankness  on  both 
sides,  ending  in  the  disagreement  on  which  we  had  started. 

I  then  asked  him  what  he  proposed  to  do  with  Jefferson 
Davis,  who  was  still  in  prison  at  Fortress  Monroe,  charged 
with  complicity  in  the  assassination  of  Lincoln.  I  saw  that 
he  was  much  embarrassed  by  the  inquiry,  and  told  him  that 
he  owed  it  to  the  truth  of  history,  to  Davis  himself  and  to 
public  justice  to  give  him  a  fair- trial.  I  reminded  him  also 
that  Wurz,  who  had  just  been  tried  by  a  court-martial  for 
wanton  and  murderous  brutality  to  the  Union  prisoners, 
with  the  judgment  in  the  case  then  in  the  hands  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, but  not  announced,  would  be  condemned  and  ex- 
ecuted, as  he  was  poor  and  friendless.  I  said  that  if  Wurz 
was  guilty  of  studied  brutality  to  prisoners  he  deserved  to 
die,  but  that  if  he  was  simply  executing  the  policy  of  the 
government  of  the  Confederacy,  as  was  then  publicly 
charged,  of  deliberately  and  systematically  murdering  Union 
prisoners  by  giving  them  unwholesome  or  insufficient  food, 
and  withholding  the  necessary  and  possible  attention  to  the 
sick  and  dying,  the  responsible  criminal  was  Jefferson  Davis. 
In  answer,  the  President  asked  how  that  could  b'e  done,  to 

206 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

which  I  responded  by  saying  that  a  court-martial,  consisting 
of  Generals  Grant,  Sherman,  Thomas,  Sheridan  and  Meade, 
could  well  be  charged  with  so  grave  an  inquiry,  as  their 
judgment  would  be  accepted  by  the  country  and  the  world. 
If  they  condemned  Davis,  he  deserved  to  be  executed.  If 
they  acquitted  him,  as  I  believed  they  would,  he  would  stand 
acquitted  of  one  of  the  most  colossal  crimes  ever  charged 
against  an  individual.  To  my  surprise,  the  President 
answered  that  there  was  strong  prejudice  growing  up 
against  court-martials.  He  was  quite  right  in  that  declara- 
tion, as  up  to  that  time  he  had  used  them  freely  and  almost 
wholly  in  the  administration  of  justice  in  all  cases  having  any 
connection  with  the  war.  He  had  denounced  Davis  as  an 
assassin,  and  in  his  new  relations  with  the  South,  which 
changed  his  conditions  materially,  he  was  anxious  to  protect 
Davis,  and  evidently  did  not  wish  his  accusations  to  be 
passed  upon  by  a  competent  court. 

I  then  said  to  the  President  that  it  was  his  duty  to  dis- 
charge Davis ;  that  Davis  should  either  be  tried  or  given  his 
liberty  at  an  early  day,  as  he  had  already  been  long  in  prison, 
and  I  reminded  him  also  that  he  could  not  try  a  man  for 
treason  who  was  President  of  a  government  that  had  be- 
leaguered our  Capitol  for  four  years,  and  that  had  been 
recognized  by  our  own  Government  and  by  the  leading  gov- 
ernments of  the  world  as  a  belligerent  power.  The  discus- 
sion of  the  Davis  question,  that  was  a  very  unpleasant  one 
to  the  President,  brought  the  conference  to  a  finish,  and 
every  prediction  that  I  made  to  him  about  his  reconstruction 
policy  was  fulfilled  to  the  letter.  Curtin  took  only  an  inci- 
dental part  in  the  conference,  and  we  parted  with  ceremonial 
courtesy,  never  to  meet  again. 

While  the  Republicans  had  been  seriously  divided  by  John- 
son's defection,  chiefly  because  of  the  large  patronage  he 
had  to  dispense,  their  columns  became  gradually  reunited, 
and  in  1868  it  was  practically  a  solid  Republican  party 
arrayed  against  Johnson  with  a  very  few  deserters;  and 
the  Democrats,  while  appreciating  Johnson's  betrayal  of 
the  Republicans,  had  no  love  and  little  respect  for  the  be- 
trayer. From  the  time  that  Grant's  candidacy  was  announced 
no  other  aspirant  was  seriously  discussed  in  Republican  cir- 
cles, and  his  name  brought  not  only  most  of  the  later  strag- 
glers of  the  party  into  the  fold,  but  commanded  the  support 

of  a  large  Democratic  element  in  addition. 

» 

is  207 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

The  Republican  National  Convention  met  at  Chicago  on 
the  2Oth  of  May,  and  easily  finished  its  work  in  two  days. 
Carl  Schurz  was  temporary  president,  and  General  Joseph 
R.  Hawley,  of  Connecticut,  was  the  permanent  president. 
The  usual  preliminaries  were  disposed  of  without  jar  dur- 
ing the  first  day,  and  the  committee  on  resolutions  reported 
promptly  on  the  morning  of  the  second  day.  The  following 
is  the  full  text  of  the  platform  as  adopted  by  a  unanimous 
vote: 


The  National  Republican  party  of  the  United  States,  assembled 
in  national  convention  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  on  the  2ist  day  of 
May,  1868,  make  the  following  declaration  of  principles : 

1.  We  congratulate  the  country  on  the  assured  success  of  the  re- 
construction policy  of  Congress,  as  evinced  by  the  adoption,  in  the 
majority  of  the  States  lately  in  rebellion,  of  constitutions  securing 
equal  civil  and  political  rights  to  all ;  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Gov- 
ernment to  sustain  those  institutions  and  to  prevent  the  people  of 
such  States  from  being  remitted  to  a  state  of  anarchy. 

2.  The  guarantee  by  Congress  of  equal  suffrage  to  all  loyal  men 
at  the  South  was  demanded  by  every  consideration  of  public  safety, 
of  gratitude,   and   of  justice,   and   must  be   maintained;    while   the 
question  of  suffrage  in  all  the  loyal  States  properly  belongs  to  the 
people  of  those  States. 

3.  We  denounce  all   forms  of  repudiation  as  a  national  crime ; 
and  the  national  honor  requires  the  payment  of  the  public  indebt- 
edness in  the  uttermost  good  faith  to  all  creditors   at  home  and 
abroad,  not  only  according  to  the  letter,  but  the  spirit  of  the  laws 
under  which  it  was  contracted. 

4.  It  is  due  to  the  labor  of  the  nation  that  taxation  should  be 
equalized,  and  reduced  as  rapidly  as  the  national  faith  will  permit. 

5.  The  national  debt,  contracted  as  it  has  been  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  Union  for  all  time  to  come,  should  be  extended  over  a 
fair  period  for  redemption ;   and  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress  to  reduce 
the  rate  of  interest  thereon,  whenever  it  can  be  honestly  done. 

6.  That  the  best  policy  to  diminish  our  burden  of  debt  is  so  to 
improve  our  credit  that  capitalists  will   seek  to  loan  us   money  at 
lower  rates  of  interest  than  we  now  pay,  and  must  continue  to  pay, 
so  long  as  repudiation,  partial  or  total,  open  or  covert,  is  threat- 
ened or  suspected. 

7.  The  Government  of  the  United  States  should  be  administered 
with  the  strictest  economy;   and  the  corruptions  which  have  been 
so  shamefully  nursed  and  fostered  by  Andrew  Johnson  call  loudly 
for  radical  reform. 

8.  We    profoundly    deplore    the    untimely    and    tragic    death    of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  and   regret   the   accession   to   the    Presidency   of 
Andrew  Johnson,  who  has  acted  treacherously  to  the  people  who 
elected   him  and  the  cause  he  was  pledged   to  support;   who   has 
usurped  high  legislative  and  judicial  functions;  who  has  refused  to 
execute  the  laws;   who  has  used  his  high  office  to   induce  other 
officers  to  ignore  and  violate  the  laws ;  who  has  employed  his  execu- 

208 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

tive  powers  to  render  insecure  the  property,  the  peace,  the  liberty 
and  life  of  the  citizen;  who  has  abused  the  pardoning  power;  who 
has  denounced  the  national  Legislature  as  unconstitutional ;  who  has 
persistently  and  corruptly  resisted,  by  every  means  in  his  power, 
every  proper  attempt  at  the  reconstruction  of  the  States  lately  in 
rebellion;  who  has  perverted  the  public  patronage  into  an  engine  of 
wholesale  corruption;  and  who  has  been  justly  impeached  for  high 
crimes  and  misdemeanors,  and  properly  pronounced  guilty  thereof 
by  the  vote  of  thirty-five  Senators. 

9.  The   doctrine   of   Great   Britain   and   other   European   powers, 
that  because  a  man  is  once  a  subject  he  is  always   so,   must  be 
resisted  at  every  hazard  by  the  United  States  as  a  relic  of  feudal 
times,  not  authorized  by  the  laws  of  nations,  and  at  war  with  our 
national  honor  and  independence.    Naturalized  citizens  are  entitled 
to  protection  in  all  their  rights  of  citizenship,  as  though  they  were 
native  born;  and  no  citizen  of  the  United  States,  native  or  natural- 
ized,  must  be   liable  to  arrest  and   imprisonment  by  any   foreign 
power  for  acts  done  or  words  spoken  in  this  country ;  and,  if  so 
arrested  and  imprisoned,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Government  to  inter- 
fere in  his  behalf. 

10.  Of  all  who  were  faithful  in  the  trials  of  the  late  war,  there 
were  none  entitled  to  more  special  honor  than  the  brave  soldiers 
and   seamen   who  endured  the  hardships  of  campaign   and   cruise 
and  imperilled  their  lives  in  the  service  of  the  country ;  the  bounties 
and  pensions  provided  by  the  laws  for  these  brave  defenders  of  the 
nation    are    obligations    never    to    be    forgotten ;    the    widows    and 
orphans  of  the  gallant  dead  are  the  wards  of  the  people — a  sacred 
legacy  bequeathed  to  the  nation's  protecting  care. 

11.  Foreign  immigration,  which  in  the  past  has  added  so  much 
to  the  wealth,  development,  and  resources,  and  increase  of  power 
to   this    Republic — the   asylum    of   the   oppressed    of    all    nations — 
should  be  fostered  and  encouraged  by  a  liberal  and  just  policy. 

12.  This  convention  declares  itself  in  sympathy  with  all  oppressed 
peoples  struggling  for  their  rights. 

13.  We  highly  commend  the  spirit  of  magnanimity  and  forbear- 
ance  with   which   men    who   have  served  in  the  Rebellion,  but  who 
now  frankly  and  honestly  co-operate  with  us  in  restoring  the  peace 
of  the  country  and  reconstructing  the  Southern  State  governments 
upon  the  basis  of  impartial  justice  and  equal  rights,  are  received 
back  into  the  communion  of  the  loyal  people;  and  we  favor  the 
removal  of  the  disqualifications  and  restrictions  imposed  upon  the 
late  rebels  in  the  same  measure  as  the  spirit  of  disloyalty  will  die 
out,  and  as  may  be  consistent  with  the  safety  of  the  loyal  people. 

14.  We  recognize  the  great  principles  laid  down  in  the  immortal 
Declaration  of  Independence  as  the  true  foundation  of  Democratic 
government;  and  we  hail  with  gladness  every  effort  toward  making 
these  principles  a  living  reality  on  every  inch  of  American  soil. 

The  convention  then  proceeded  to  make  nominations,  and 
after  an  able  and  impassioned  speech  by  General  Logan  pre- 
senting General  Grant's'  name,  the  roll  was  called  and  every 
vote  responded  in  favor  of  Grant,  giving  650  in  all.  As  soon 

209 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


as  the  vote  was  announced,  a  curtain  on  the  rear  of  the  stage 
was  lifted,  presenting  a  heroic  picture  of  Grant,  and  the  con- 
vention responded  to  the  nomination  and  the  picture  of  the 
Great  Captain  with  deafening  cheers. 

There  was  a  spirited  contest  for  the  Vice-Presidency. 
Wade,  of  Ohio,  had  the  lead,  and  Fenton,  of  New  York,  Wil- 
son, of  Massachusetts,  and  Colfax,  of  Indiana,  all  started  with 
a  very  promising  vote.  I  was  chairman  of  the  Pennsylvania 
delegation,  and  in  obedience  to  the  unanimous  instructions 
of  the  State,  presented  to  the  convention  the  name  of  Andrew 
G.  Curtin  for  second  place  on  the  ticket.  It  soon  became 
evident  that  the  contest  would  be  between  Wade  and  Colfax, 
and  when  the  struggle  was  thus  narrowed  Colfax  won  an 
easy  victory.  The  following  table  presents  the  several  bal- 
lots for  Vice-President : 


First. 

Second 

Third. 

Fourth 

Fifth. 

Benjamin  F.  Wade,  of  Ohio  
Reuben  E.  Fenton,  of  New  York  .  . 
Henry  Wilson,  of  Massachusetts.  . 
Schuyler  Colfax,  of  Indiana  

147 
126 
119 
115 

170 

144 
114 
145 

178 
139 
101 
165 

206 
144 

87 
186 

38 
69 

541 

Andrew  G.  Curtin,  of  Penn  

51 

45 

40 

Hannibal  Hamlin  of  Maine 

28 

30 

25 

25 

James  Speed  of  Kentucky 

22 

James  Harlan  of  Iowa  

16 



John  A.  J.  Creswell,  of  Maryland.. 
Samuel  C.  Pomeroy,  of  Kansas.  .  . 
William  D  Kelley  of  Penn 

14 
6 

4 

— 

— 

— 

— 

The  swift  mutations  in  American  politics  were  strangely 
illustrated  in  the  nomination  for  Vice-President  at  that  con- 
vention. Senator  Benjamin  F.  Wade,  of  Ohio,  who  was 
about  closing  a  term  of  eighteen  years  in  the  service  of  the 
Senate,  who  was  then  President  pro  tern,  of  that  body,  and 
who  was  expected  to  reach  the  Presidency  for  a  period  of 
eight  months  by  the  impeachment  and  dismissal  of  President 
Johnson,  was  the  prominent  candidate  for  Vice-President 
before  the  meeting  of  the  convention.  It  was  generally  be- 
lieved that  Johnson  would  be  successfully  impeached;  that 
Wade  would  become  President  for  the  remainder  of  the  term, 
with  illimitable  patronage,  and  that  his  nomination  for  the 
Vice- Presidency  was  apparently  assured.  But  when  many 
delegates  were  on  their  way  to  Chicago  on  Saturday,  the 

210 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

1 6th,  the  trained  lightning  sped  the  message  westward  that 
Johnson  had  been  acquitted  by  a  single  vote  in  the  Senate, 
and  that  ended  Wade's  candidacy.  He  had  many  friends  in- 
dependent of  the  prospective  power  that  had  made  him  for- 
midable, and  they  made  a  stubborn  battle  for  him,  but  though 
he  was  highest  of  all  on  the  ist  ballot,  on  the  5th  and  final 
vote  he  had  but  38  votes  to  541  for  Schuyler  Coif  ax  and  69 
for  Senator  Fenton,  of  New  York.  Thus  two  crushing  dis- 
asters had  befallen  Wade  in  a  single  week.  He  had  the  Pres- 
idency apparently  within  his  grasp — and  this  would  have 
carried  the  Vice-Presidency  for  another  term — but  he  was 
smitten  in  both  efforts,  and  these  crowning  disasters  closely 
followed  his  defeat  for  re-election  to  the  Senate.  He  was 
the  sturdy,  bluff,  uncompromising  patriot  of  the  Senate  dur- 
ing the  war,  and  after  these  three  disasters  came  upon  him 
in  quick  succession,  the  old  man  groped  his  way  along  for  a 
few  years  in  solitude  and  then  slept  the  dreamless  sleep  of 
the  dead. 

The  Democratic  National  Convention  met  in  New  York 
on  the  4th  of  July,  and  there  was  a  strong  sentiment  among 
the  delegates  favorable  to  the  nomination  of  a  liberal  Repub- 
lican for  President.  The  Republicans  had  nominated  a 
Democrat,  and  Chief  Justice  Chase,  who  was  an  old-time 
Democrat,  and  who  had  won  a  very  large  measure  of  Demo- 
cratic confidence  by  his  rulings  in  the  impeachment  case  of 
President  Johnson,  was  a  favorite  with  a  very  powerful 
circle  of  friends,  who  had  quietly,  but  very  thoroughly,  as 
they  believed,  organized  to  have  him  nominated  by  a  spon- 
taneous tidal  wave  after  a  protracted  deadlock  between  the 
leading  candidates.  I  have  every  reason  to  believe  that 
Chase  would  have  been  nominated  at  the  time  Seymour  was 
chosen,  and  in  like  manner,  had  it  not  been  for  the  carefully 
laid  plan  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden  to  prevent  the  success  of  Chase. 
Horatio  Seymour,  the  ablest  Democrat  of  that  day,  was 
president  of  the  convention,  and  he  had  no  more  idea  of  be- 
ing nominated  for  President  than  he  had  of  becoming  the 
Czar  of  Russia.  It  was  generally  supposed  that  Seymour 
left  the  chair  of  the  convention  because  some  votes  had  been 
cast  for  him  for  President,  but  he  really  left  the  chair  be- 
cause he  expected  to  aid  in  the  nomination  of  Chase,  and 
when  Seymour  called  another  to  preside,  the  Tilden  strategy 
completed  its  purpose  by  an  able  Democrat  demanding  the 
nomination  of  Horatio  Seymour,  and  delivering  a  most  elo- 

211 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

quent  and  impressive  eulogy  upon  the  confessed  leader  of  the 
Democracy.  In  vain  did  Seymour  give  a  peremptory  decli- 
nation. The  convention  had  been  organized  for  its  work, 
and  men  in  nearly  every  delegation  who  had  been  assigned 
to  their  task  rose  and  swelled  the  hurrah  for  Seymour. 
When  he  found  the  tide  was  likely  to  be  overwhelming,  he 
declared  with  equal  earnestness  and  pathos,  "  Your  candi- 
date I  cannot  be ;"  but  the  wave  sped  on  and  Seymour  was 
made  the  candidate  by  a  practically  unanimous  vote. 

He  was  prevailed  upon  to  consider  the  subject,  and  that 
meant,  of  course,  that  he  could  not  decline.  There  had  been 
twenty-one  ballots  before  the  nomination  of  Seymour,  in 
which  Pendleton,  Hancock,  and  Hendricks  were  the  leading 
competitors.  It  was  then  that  the  nomination  of  Chase  was 
expected  to  be  made  just  as  the  nomination  of  Seymour  was 
made,  and  Tilden's  was  the  master  hand  that  shaped  the  ac- 
tion of  the  conventon. 

Tilden  was  a  master  leader,  as  subtle  and  sagacious  as  he 
was  able,  and  he  thoroughly  organized  the  plan  to  nominate 
Seymour,  not  so  much  because  he  desired  Seymour  as  the 
candidate,  as  because  he  was  implacable  in  his  hostility  to 
Chase.  It  was  well  known  by  Chase  and  his  friends  that  Til- 
den  crucified  Chase  in  the  Democratic  convention  of  1868, 
and  this  act  of  Tilden's  had  an  impressive  sequel  eight  years 
later,  when  the  election  of  Tilden  hung  in  the  balance  in  the 
Senate,  and  when  the  accomplished  daughter  of  Chase  de- 
cided the  battle  against  Tilden. 

The  convention  met  on  the  4th  of  July,  which  was  Satur- 
day, and  nothing  beyond  organization  was  accomplished 
until  Monday.  The  supporters  of  Pendleton  were  altogether 
the  most  aggressive  of  all  the  candidates.  They  represented 
the  "  Greenback  "  issue  that  had  then  taken  form,  and  ex- 
hibited considerable  popular  strength,  not  only  in  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  but  to  some  extent  in  the  Republican  party.  The 
two-thirds  rule  was  reaffirmed,  and  on  Tuesday  the  com- 
mittee on  platform  reported  the  following  resolutions,  which 
were  unanimously  adopted : 

The  Democratic  party,  in  national  convention  assembled,  repos- 
ing its  trust  in  the  intelligence,  patriotism,  and  discriminating  justice 
of  the  people,  standing  upon  the  Constitution  as  the  foundation  and 
limitation  of  the  powers  of  the  Government  and  the  guarantee  of 
the  liberties  of  the  citizen,  and  recognizing  the  questions  of  slavery 
and  secession  as  having  been  settled,  for  all  time  to  come,  by  the 

212 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

war,  or  the  voluntary  action  of  the  Southern  States  in  constitutional 
conventions  assembled,  and  never  to  be  renewed  or  reagitated,  do, 
with  the  return  of  peace,  demand: 

1.  Immediate  restoration  of  all  the  States  to  their  rights  in  the 
Union  under  the  Constitution,  and  of  civil  government  to  the  Ameri- 
can people. 

2.  Amnesty  for  all  past  political  offences,  and  the  regulation  of 
the  elective  franchise  in  the  States  by  their  citizens. 

3.  Payment  of  the  public  debt  of  the  United  States  as  rapidly  as 
practicable ;  all  moneys  drawn  from  the  people  by  taxation,  except 
so  much  as  is  requisite  for  the  necessities  of  the  Government,  eco- 
nomically  administered,    being   honestly   applied    to    such   payment, 
and  where  the  obligations  of  the  Government  do  not  expressly  state 
upon  their  face,  or  the  law  under  which  they  were  issued  does  not 
provide  that  they  shall  be  paid   in  coin,   they  ought,   in  right  and 
in  justice,  to  be  paid  in  the  lawful  money  of  the  United  States. 

4.  Equal  taxation  of  every  species  of  property  according  to  its 
real  value,  including  Government  bonds  and  other  public  securities. 

5.  One  currency  for  the  Government  and  the  people,  the  laborer 
and  the  officeholder,  the  pensioner  and  the  soldier,  the  producer  and 
the  bondholder. 

6.  Economy   in  the  administration   of  the   Government;   the   re- 
duction of  the  standing  army  and  navy ;  the  abolition  of  the  Freed- 
men's  Bureau,  and  all  political  instrumentalities  designed  to  secure 
negro  supremacy ;  simplification  of  the  system,  and  discontinuance 
of  inquisitorial  modes  of  assessing  and  collecting  internal  revenue, 
so  that  the  burden  of  taxation  may  be  equalized  and  lessened ;  the 
credit  of  the  Government  and  the  currency  made  good ;  the  repeal 
of  all  enactments  for  enrolling  the  State  militia  into  national  forces 
in  time  of  peace ;   and  a  tariff  for  revenue  upon   foreign  imports, 
and  such   equal   taxation  under  the   internal   revenue  laws   as   will 
afford  incidental  protection  to  domestic  manufacturers,  and  as  will, 
without  impairing  the  revenue,  impose  the  least  burden  upon    and 
best  promote  and  encourage  the  great  industrial   interests  of  the 
country. 

7.  Reform  of  abuses  in  the  administration,  the  expulsion  of  cor- 
rupt men  from  office,  the  abrogation  of  useless  offices,  the  restora- 
tion of  rightful  authority  to,  and  the  independence  of,  the  executive 
and  judicial  departments  of  the  Government,  the  subordination  of 
the  military  to  the  civil  power,  to  the  end  that  the  usurpations  of 
Congress  and  the  despotism  of  the  sword  may  cease. 

8.  Equal    rights  and  protection   for  naturalized  and  native-born 
citizens,  at  home  and  abroad ;  the  assertion  of  American  nationality 
which  shall  command  the  respect  of  foreign  powers,  and  furnish  an 
example  and  encouragement  to  peoples  struggling  for  national  in- 
tegrity, constitutional  liberty,  and  individual  rights,  and  the  main- 
tenance of  the  rights  of  naturalized  citizens  against  the  absolute 
doctrine  of  immutable  allegiance,  and  the  claims  of  foreign  powers 
to  punish  them   for  alleged  crime   committed  beyond  their  juris- 
diction. 

In  demanding  these  measures  and  reforms,  we  arraign  the  Radical 
party  for  its  disregard  of  right,  and  the  unparalleled  oppression  and 
tyranny  which  have  marked  its  career. 

After  the  most  solemn  and  unanimous  pledge  of  both  Houses  of 

213 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Congress  to  prosecute  the  war  exclusively  for  the  maintenance  of 
the  Government  and  the  preservation  of  the  Union  under  the  Con- 
stitution, it  has  repeatedly  violated  that  most  sacred  pledge  under 
which  alone  was  rallied  that  noble  volunteer  army  which  carried 
our  flag  to  victory.  Instead  of  restoring  the  Union,  it  has,  so  far  as 
in  its  power,  dissolved  it,  and  subjected  ten  States,  in  the  time  of 
profound  peace,  to  military  despotism  and  negro  supremacy.  It  has 
nullified  there  the  right  of  trial  by  jury;  it  has  abolished  the  habeas 
corpus,  that  most  sacred  writ  of  liberty;  it  has  overthrown  the 
freedom  of  speech  and  the  press;  it  has  substituted  arbitrary  seiz- 
ures and  arrests,  and  military  trials  and  secret  star-chamber  inqui- 
sitions for  the  constitutional  tribunals ;  it  has  disregarded,  in  time 
of  peace,  the  right  of  the  people  to  be  free  from  searches  and  seiz- 
ures ;  it  has  entered  the  post  and  telegraph  offices,  and  even  the 
private  rooms  of  individuals,  and  seized  their  private  papers  and 
letters  without  any  specific  charge  or  notice  or  affidavit,  as  required 
by  the  organic  law ;  it  has  converted  the  American  Capitol  into  a 
bastile ;  it  has  established  a  systexn  of  spies  and  official  espionage 
to  which  no  constitutional  monarchy  of  Europe  would  now  dare  to 
resort ;  it  has  abolished  the  right  of  appeal,  on  important  consti- 
tutional questions,  to  the  supreme  judicial  tribunals,  and  threat- 
ened to  curtail  or  destroy  its  original  jurisdiction,  which  is  irrev- 
ocably vested  by  the  Constitution,  while  the  learned  Chief  Justice 
has  been  subjected  to  the  most  atrocious  calumnies,  merely  because 
he  would  not  prostitute  his  high  office  to  the  support  of  the  false 
and  partisan  charges  preferred  against  the  President.  Its  corruption 
and  extravagance  have  exceeded  anything  known  in  history,  and,  by 
its  frauds  and  monopolies,  it  has  nearly  doubled  the  burden  of  the 
debt  created  by  the  war.  It  has  stripped  the  President  of  his  con- 
stitutional power  of  appointment,  even  of  his  own  Cabinet.  Under 
its  repeated  assaults  the  pillars  of  the  Government  are  rocking  on 
their  base,  and  should  it  succeed  in  November  next  and  inaugurate 
its  President,  we  will  meet,  as  a  subjected  and  conquered  people, 
amid  the  ruins  of  liberty  and  the  scattered  fragments  of  the  Con- 
stitution. 

And  we  do  declare  and  resolve  that  ever  since  the  people  of  the 
United  States  threw  off  all  subjection  to  the  British  crown  the 
privilege  and  trust  of  suffrage  have  belonged  to  the  several  States, 
and  have  been  granted,  regulated,  and  controlled  exclusively  by  the 
political  power  of  each  State  respectively,  and  that  any  attempt  by 
Congress,  on  any  pretext  whatever,  to  deprive  any  State  of  this 
right,  or  interfere  with  its  exercise,  is  a  flagrant  usurpation  of  power, 
which  can  find  no  warrant  in  the  Constitution,  and,  if  sanctioned 
by  the  people,  will  subvert  our  form  of  government,  and  can  only 
end  in  a  single  centralized  and  consolidated  government,  in  which 
the  separate  existence  of  the  States  will  be  entirely  absorbed,  and 
unqualified  despotism  be  established  in  place  of  a  Federal  union  of 
coequal  States.  And  that  we  regard  the  Reconstruction  Acts  (so- 
called)  of  Congress,  as  such,  as  usurpations,  and  unconstitutional, 
revolutionary,  and  void. 

That  our  soldiers  and  sailors,  who  carried  the  flag  of  our  country 
to  victory  against  a  most  gallant  and  determined  foe,  must  ever  be 
gratefully  remembered,  and  all  the  guarantees  given  in  their  favor 
must  be  faithfully  carried  into  execution. 

2I4 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


That  the  public  lands  should  be  distributed  as  widely  as  possible 
among  the  people,  and  should  be  disposed  of  either  under  the  pre- 
emption or  homestead  lands,  or  sold  in  reasonable  quantities,  and 
to  none  but  actual  occupants,  at  the  minimum  price  established  by 
the  Government.  When  grants  of  the  public  lands  may  be  allowed, 
necessary  for  the  encouragement  of  important  public  improvements, 
the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  such  lands,  and  not  the  lands  themselves, 
should  be  so  applied. 

That  the  President  of  the  United  States,  Andrew  Johnson,  in 
exercising  the  powers  of  his  high  office  in  resisting  the  aggressions 
of  Congress  upon  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  States  and  the 
people,  is  entitled  to  the  gratitude  of  the  whole  American  people, 
and  in  behalf  of  the  Democratic  party  we  tender  him  our  thanks 
for  his  patriotic  efforts  in  that  regard. 

Upon  this  platform  the  Democratic  party  appeal  to  every  patriot, 
including  all  the  conservative  element  and  all  who  desire  to  sup- 
port the  Constitution  and  restore  the  Union,  forgetting  all  past  dif- 
ferences of  opinion,  to  unite  with  us  in  the  present  great  struggle 
for  the  liberties  of  the  people;  and  that  to  all  such,  to  whatever 
party  they  may  have  heretofore  belonged,  we  extend  the  right 
hand  of  fellowship,  and  hail  all  such  co-operating  with  us  as  friends 
and  brethren. 

Resolved,  That  this  convention  sympathize  cordially  with  the 
workingmen  of  the  United  States  in  their  efforts  to  protect  the  rights 
and  interests  of  the  laboring  classes  of  the  country. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  convention  are  tendered  to  Chief 
Justice  Salmon  P.  Chase  for  the  justice,  dignity,  and  impartiality 
with  which  he  presided  over  the  court  of  impeachment  on  the  trial 
of  President  Andrew  Johnson. 

The  ballots  for  President  began  on  Tuesday  and  ended 
Thursday.  The  following  table  gives  the  ballots  in  detail : 


BAL- 
LOTS. 


I.... 

2... 

3.... 

4.... 

5.... 

6.... 

7.... 

8 

9... 


13 

It* 

13 
13 
13 

7 
7 
7 


U 


215 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


c 

o 

S3 
0) 

>JH 

d 

t/3 

>d 

. 

i 

C 

£ 

fc 

c 
o 

c 

1—  I 

. 

•d 

,±4 

o 

14 

o 

^ 

BAL- 
LOTS. 

[.  Pendleton, 

w  Johnson,  1 

C 

K 
c/5 
<g 

1 

.c 
O 

W 

-o 

d 

c 

1 

1 

CJ 

E.  English, 

R.  Doolittle 

A..  Hendrick 

o  Seymour, 

IH* 
'3 
3 

Oi 

en 

iy  Johnson, 

60 
C 
fj 

W 

i 

o 

Andre 

Winfie 

«S 
c 
1 
cc 

£ 

fl 

< 

(X 
o 

a 

s 

oj 

i—  > 

w 

<D 

S 

n! 

>—  > 

1 

Horati 

Franci 

0) 

1 

5 

10 

1471^ 

6 

34 

12 

82U 

• 

11... 

144)6 

32^ 





7 



88 



j| 





12  

145)<J 

4^> 

30 





7 

— 

12)<> 

89 

— 

3^ 



Jl^jC 

13  

1341^ 

4)i> 

48Vi» 





7 



13 

81 



L^ 



\\4, 

14  

130 

56 

7 

13 

84  \4* 



15 

51^ 

7 

12 

oniy 

16  

10TU 

gj 

113)1 





1 



12 

70^ 









17  

70)| 

6 

137)4 





7 



12 

80 

__ 





3V£ 

18... 

56)1 

10 

144)£ 

31  k> 

12 

87 

ol/ 

19... 





8* 

6 

4 

107U 



13)^ 



5 

20  





142)£ 







16 

12 

121 

2 

13 



9 

21.    . 

•JOK1/ 

19 

12 

132 

5 

22 

4 

qnr/ 

1 

4 

140U 

21 

Before  the  22d  ballot  was  announced  delegations  began  to  change  their  votes 
to  Seymour,  and  the  changes  were  continued  amid  great  enthusiam  until  he 
received  the  unanimous  nomination.  The  twenty-one  votes  given  him  on  the 
last  ballot  were  all  cast  by  Ohio  delegates. 

It  was  charged  that  the  nomination  of  Seymour  had  been 
carefully  planned  by  his  friends  before  the  meeting  of  the 
convention,  in  imitation  of  the  nominations  of  Polk  and 
Pierce,  but  in  point  of  fact  the  nomination  of  Seymour  was 
not  planned  by  his  friends  nor  had  they  any  idea  of  nominat- 
ing him  when  the  convention  met,  as  his  name  was  not 
before  the  convention  at  all  until  the  22d  ballot  and  the 
third  day  of  balloting.  He  was  most  earnestly  averse  to 
accepting  the  nomination.  His  health  was  impaired,  he  had 
had  many  and  very  earnest  political  conflicts,  and  he  felt 
himself  physically  and  mentally  unequal  to  the  exacting 
duties  of  a  campaign.  His  nomination  was,  as  I  have  stated, 
conceived  and  executed  for  the  purpose  of  defeating  Chase. 

Having  failed  to  nominate  a  Republican  for  President, 
the  convention  unanimously  nominated  General  Frank  P. 
Blair,  of  Missouri,  for  Vice-President  without  the  formality 
of  a  ballot.  He  was  one  of  the  most  radical  and  aggressive 
of  Republicans  when  the  Republican  party  was  organized  in 
1856,  and  brought  the  first  important  victory  to  that  party 
when,  in  the  early  fall  of  1856,  he  was  elected  to  Congress 

216 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


from  St.  Louis,  being  the  first  Republican  who  ever  repre- 
sented a  Southern  State  in  the  national  Legislature.  I 
remember  meeting  him  in  Washington  just  before  the  clash 
of  arms  began,  after  the  bombardment  of  Sumter.  He  was 
impatient  with  Lincoln  for  not  precipitating  the  war,  and 
told  me  that  he  would  go  back  to  Missouri  the  next  day, 
and  that  the  country  would  soon  hear  of  battles  fought  in 
that  State.  He  executed  his  purpose,  for  it  was  through 
him  chiefly  or  wholly  that  the  early  and  bloody  battles  of 
Missouri  were  fought.  He  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
of  the  corps  commanders  of  the  army,  but  had  evidently 
fallen  into  disfavor  with  Grant,  and  Blair  was  as  tireless 
a  fighter  as  Grant  himself.  In  a  public  letter,  directed  to 
J.  C.  Broadhead  a  short  time  before  the  convention  met, 
General  Blair  denounced  Grant  as  aiming  at  imperialism, 
and  declared  that  his  election  to  the  Presidency  would  date 
the  downfall  of  our  Republican  institutions. 

General  Blair  spoke  frequently  during  the  contest,  but 
his  speeches  were  so  violent  that  they  gave  offence  to  many 
conservative  Democrats ;  and  after  the  October  elections, 
which  were  disastrous  to  the  Democrats,  the  New  York 
World,  the  leading  Democratic  organ,  came  out  in  a 
leader  demanding  that  he  be  retired  from  the  ticket; 
but  Blair  was  not  the  man  to  retreat  under  fire.  Seymour 
took  the  stump,  to  present  the  party  in  a  more  conservative 
attitude,  and  delivered  a  number  of  speeches,  which  rank 
among  the  ablest  popular  addresses  of  American  politics; 
but  he  could  not  halt  the  tidal  wave  that  swept  Grant  into 
the  Presidency.  The  following  table  gives  the  electoral  and 
popular  vote : 


STATES. 

POPULAR  VOTE. 

ELECTORAL  VOTE. 

Ulysses  S. 
Grant, 
Repub- 
lican. 

Horatio 
Seymour, 
Democrat. 

Total 
Vote. 

Grant. 

Seymour. 

Alabama 

76,366 
22,152 
54,592 
50,641 
7,623 

72,080 
19,078 
54,078 
47,600 
10,980 

148,452 
41,230 
108,670 
98,241 
18,603 

8 
5 
5 
6 

3 

3 

Arkansas 

California  . 

Connecticut  

Delaware  

Florida* 

Georgia 

57,134 

102,822 

159,956 

9 

*  The  electors  were  chosen  by  the  legislature. 
217 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


STATES. 

POPULAR  VOTE. 

ELECTORAL  VOTE. 

Ulysses  S. 
Grant, 
Repub- 
lican. 

Horatio 
Seymour, 
Democrat. 

Total 
Vote. 

Grant. 

Seymour. 

Illinois  

250,293 
,   176,552 
120,399 
31,049 
39,566 
33,263 
70,426 
30,438 
136,477 
128,550 
43,542 
85,671 
9,729 
6,480 
38,191 
80,121 
419,883 
96,226 
280,128 
10,961 
342,280 
12,993 
62,301 
56,757 
44,167 
29,025 
108,857 

199,143 
166,980 
74,040 
14,019 
115,889 
80,225 
42,396 
62,357 
59,408 
97,069 
28,072 
59,788 
5,439 
5,218 
31,224 
83,001 
429,883 
84,090 
238,700 
11,125 
313,382 
6,548 
45,237 
26,311 
12,045 
20,306 
84,710 

449,436 
343,532 
194,439 
45,068 
155,455 
113,488 
112,822 
92,795 
195,885 
225,619 
71,614 
145,459 
15,168 
11,698 
69,415 
163,122 
849,766 
180,316 
518,828 
22,086 
655,662 
19,541 
107,538 
83,068 
56,212 
49,331 
193,567 

16 
13 
8 
3 

7 

12 
8 
4 
11 
3 
3 
5 

9 

21 

26 
4 
6 
10 
5 
5 
8 

11 

7 

7 

7 
33 

3 

Indiana 

Iowa 

Kansas.                  .    . 

Kentucky  

Louisiana  

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts. 

Michigan. 

Minnesota    .       ... 

Missouri    

Nebraska  

Nevada  

New  Hampshire  
New  Jersey  

New  York  
North  Carolina  
Ohio  

Oregon    

Pennsylvania 

Rhode  Island. 

South  Carolina  

Tennessee  
Vermont            

West  Virginia  
Wisconsin  

Total  i  .  . 

3,012,833 

2,703,249 

5,716,082 

214 

80 

There  was  dispute  as  to  the  right  of  some  of  the  Southern 
States -to  participate  in  the  election.  It  will  be  seen  that 
West  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia, 
Alabama,  Louisiana,  Arkansas,  Missouri,  Tennessee,  and 
Kentucky  had  all  participated  in  the  election.  Fortunately, 
the  disputed  States  did  not  in  any  way  affect  the  result,  and 
Congress  passed  a  joint  resolution  declaring  that  none  of 
the  rebellious  States  should  be  entitled  to  electoral  votes, 
unless  at  the  time  of  the  election  they  had  adopted  Constitu- 
tions since  the  4th  of  March,  1867,  and  had  an  organized 
State  Government,  and  unless  such  States  had  representation 

2lS 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

in  Congress  under  the  Reconstruction  laws.  Of  course, 
President  Johnson  vetoed  the  measure,  but  it  was  promptly 
passed  over  the  veto  by  both  branches  of  Congress,  and 
became  a  law.  By  that  resolution,  Virginia,  Mississippi,  and 
Texas  were  absolutely  excluded  from  the  election. 

The  other  Southern  States  had  representation  in  Congress, 
with  the  exception  of  Georgia.  The  question  whether 
Georgia  should  be  permitted  to  have  her  vote  counted  re- 
sulted in  a  very  serious  dispute,  on  which  the  Senate  and 
the  House  divided,  but  Mr.  Wade,  President  of  the  Senate, 
in  declaring  the  result,  counted  the  vote  of  Georgia  and 
precipitated  a  very  disgraceful  scene,  in  which  General 
Butler  most  offensively  assailed  the  presiding  officer.  There 
was  no  question  whatever  as  to  the  election  of  Grant  and 
Colfax,  and  Congress  duly  declared  them  President  and 
Vice-President  of  the  United  States. 

The  contest  of  1868  crystallized  the  "  Greenback  "  senti- 
ment of  the  country  under  the  leadership  of  George  H. 
Pendleton,  who  was  the  nominee  for  Vice-President  with 
McClellan  in  1864,  and  who  expected  to  capture  the  Demo- 
cratic National  Convention  of  1868,  to  nominate  himself  for 
President  on  the  Greenback  platform.  The  Pendleton 
followers  were  the  hustlers  of  that  convention,  and  they 
were  all  decorated  with  a  badge  that  was  an  imitation  of 
the  greenback.  Gold  had  been  at  a  high  premium  during 
the  war,  and  was  at  a  considerable  premium  in  1868,  with 
resumption  apparently  very  far  off.  The  cheap-money  idea 
had  been  industriously  impressed  upon  the  people  by  the 
demagogues  of  that  day,  and  as  many  of  the  obligations 
of  the  United  States  were  payable  only  in  lawful  money, 
while  the  bonds  issued  during  the  war  were  payable  in  coin, 
it  was  easy  to  make  plausible  appeal  to  the  prejudices  of  the 
industrial  classes,  who  were  paying  very  high  prices  for 
all  the  necessaries  of  life. 

This  theory  had  been  very  widely  discussed  by  the  various 
shades  of  opposition  to  the  Republicans,  but  the  Pendleton 
movement  for  the  Democratic  nomination  for  the  Presidency 
dignified  it  as  a  national  issue,  and  it  succeeded  in  making 
the  New  York  Democratic  platform  go  more  than  half  way 
in  favor  of  repudiation  of  our  obligations  by  payment  in 
greenbacks.  The  greenback  issue  thus  vitalized  became 
a  very  important  one  in  many  of  the  States  and  caused 
strange  political  revolutions,  such  as  the  election  of  Demo- 

219 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

cratic  Governors  and  Democratic  Legislatures  in  Maine  and 
Ohio. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  the  Republicans  could  have  been 
lined  up  squarely  in  the  support  of  the  national  credit  with 
any  other  candidate  than  Grant,  and  one  of  the  first  acts  that 
he  signed  as  President  distinctly  provided  for  the  payment  in 
coin  of  all  bonds  of  the  Government  bearing  interest,  and 
declared  also  that  specie  payments  should  be  resumed  as 
speedily  as  practicable.  The  Greenback  party  not  only 
figured  largely  in  State  politics,  but  became  formidable  as 
a  third  party  in  national  contests,  and  the  free-silver  theory 
of  to-day  is  simply  the  old  greenback  issue  of  cheap  money 
in  another  form. 


THE  GRANT-GREELEY  CONTEST 

1872 


GENERAL  GRANT  was  a  thorough  soldier,  with  little  quali- 
fication for  civil  duties  and  a  natural  distaste  for  politics.  I 
doubt  whether  he  had  any  defined  political  policy  when  he 
entered  the  Presidency.  He  believed  in  maintaining  the 
credit  of  the  Government,  and  accepted  in  a  conservative 
way  the  general  policy  of  the  Republican  party,  but  he  knew 
little  or  nothing  of  the  political  leadership  of  the  nation,  and 
his  friends  generally  felt  that  the  success  of  his  administra- 
tion would  depend  very  largely  upon  surrounding  him  with 
a  Cabinet  composed  of  the  ablest  and  most  sagacious  men 
of  the  party,  but  Grant  cherished  no  such  ideas  himself. 
He  evidently  assumed  that  politics  could  be  run  by  general 
orders,  as  an  army  could  be  commanded,  and  it  was  that 
mistake  that  alienated  a  very  large  portion  of  the  Repub- 
licans from  him  in  the  early  period  of  his  administration, 
and  culminated  in  the  Liberal  Republican  Convention  at 
Cincinnati  in  1872. 

I  had  frequently  met  General  Grant  before  his  nomination 
and  election  to  the  Presidency,  but  only  in  the  most  casual 
way  on  social  occasions,  and  never  had  any  conversation 
with  him,  either  on  politics  generally  or  on  his  candidacy 
for  the  Presidency.  I  was  earnestly  in  favor  of  his  nomina- 
tion and  election,  because  I  believed  that  calling  him  to  the 
Presidency  would  do  more  to  reconcile  the  South  and  give 
better  assurance  of  sectional  tranquillity  than  the  election  of 
any  of  the  leading  Republican  statesmen  of  that  day.  I  had 
just  changed  my  residence  to  Philadelphia,  having  suffered 
serious  financial  disaster  in  the  burning  of  Chambersburg 
by  McCausland,  and  it  was  my  settled  purpose  after  Grant's 
election  to  cease  active  participation  in  politics  and  devote 
my  efforts  wholly  to  my  profession. 

My  first  and  only  meeting  with  Grant  before  his  retire- 

221 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

ment  from  the  Presidency,  at  which  we  had  any  protracted 
conversation,  was  a  short  time  before  his  inauguration. 
Chief  Justice  Read,  of  Pennsylvania,  handed  me  a  letter, 
addressed  to  the  President-elect,  and  asked  me  to  deliver  it 
in  person  when  I  next  visited  Washington.  I  did  not  know 
its  contents,  but  inferred  that  it  related  to  the  appointment 
of  Curtin  to  a  Cabinet  office.  A  few  days  thereafter  when 
in  Washington  I  called  upon  General  Grant  at  his  head- 
quarters and  delivered  the  letter,  and  after  a  very  brief 
conversation,  rose  to  take  my  leave.  He  had  opened  the 
letter  in  the  meantime,  and  as  I  reached  the  door  he  called 
me  back,  saying  that  Judge  Read's  letter  strongly  urged 
the  appointment  of  Curtin  to  the  Cabinet,  and  that  he  desired 
to  tell  me  frankly  as  a  close  friend  of  Curtin  why  he  could 
not  meet  the  wishes  of  the  many  friends  of  Curtin  by  giving 
him  a  Cabinet  portfolio.  He  spoke  very  highly  of  Curtin, 
and  showed  his  appreciation  of  Curtin's  position  by  nominat- 
ing him  as  Minister  to  Russia  at  an  early  day  after  his 
inauguration,  and  against  the  protest  of  Senator  Cameron. 
In  the  course  of  the  conversation  I  saw  Grant's  crude  theory 
of  conducting  a  national  administration.  He  said  that  his 
Cabinet  officers  would  be  his  official  confidential  family,  and 
he  desired  to  appoint  them  entirely  in  accordance  with  his 
personal  preferences.  I  said  to  him  that  it  was  certainly 
his  right  to  have  only  men  in  his  Cabinet  who  were  entirely 
agreeable  to  himself,  but  that  it  was  very  important  for  him 
to  have  the  ablest  politicians  of  the  country  largely  repre- 
sented in  it,  to  save  his  administration  from  the  many 
political  complications  which  would  otherwise  confront  him. 
I  saw  that  Grant  was  not  a  willing  listener  to  any  sugges- 
tions, although  given  in  the  most  courteous  manner,  and  he 
answered  with  a  somewhat  liberal  display  of  what  some 
called  "  obstinacy  "  and  others  called  "  determination,"  as 
one  of  the  leading  attributes  of  his  character.  I  then  spoke 
more  freely  and  frankly,  and  finally  said  to  him  that  if  I 
were  suddenly  called  to  the  command  of  the  army,  with 
little  or  no  military  experience,  I  would  feel  that  my  greatest 
need  was  generals ;  and  I  added  that  it  was  in  no  measure 
disrespectful  to  him  to  say  that,  having  been  called  from 
the  command  of  the  army  to  the  Presidency  of  the  Republic, 
without  experience  in  high  civil  duties,  his  greatest  need 
was  statesmen.  The  advice  was  not  grateful  to  Grant;  on 
the  contrary,  he  was  obviously  fretted,  as  none  of  the  many 

222 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

who  sought  favors  at  his  hands  had  ventured  to  tell  him  the 
truth  so  plainly.  When  the  conversation  ended  he  gave  me 
a  moderately  cordial  good-by,  and  I  never  again  met  him, 
excepting  once  at  the  large  banquet  given  by  Mr.  Childs 
on  the  evening  after  the  opening  of  the  Philadelphia  Cen- 
tennial in  1876,  until  soon  after  he  had  retired  from  his 
eight  years'  service  in  the  Presidency,  and  never  had  any 
communication  with  him. 

I  opposed  his  renomination,  participated  in  the  Liberal 
Republican  Convention  that  nominated  Greeley,  had  charge 
of  the  Greeley  campaign  in  Pennsylvania,  and  labored  very 
earnestly  for  Grant's  defeat  in  1872.  On  the  day  that  he 
retired  from  the  Presidency  I  had  an  editorial  in  the  Phila- 
delphia Times,  speaking  of  General  Grant  as  history  would 
record  his  achievements,  and  of  necessity  highly  compli- 
mentary to  him.  A  few  days  thereafter  I  met  him  with 
Mr.  Childs  at  the  Continental  Hotel,  and  he  came  forward 
in  a  manner  that  was  unusually  demonstrative  for  Grant, 
and  was  profuse  in  his  thanks  for  the  editorial  referred  to. 
He  said  that  he  specially  valued  it  because  it  came  from 
one  who  had  been  among  his  severest  critics  during  his 
Presidential  term,  and  he  ended  by  inviting  me  to  lunch  with 
him  at  Mr.  Drexel's  office  that  afternoon. 

I  willingly  accepted  the  invitation  and  spent  two  hours 
with  Grant,  most  of  the  time  alone  after  Mr.  Drexel  and 
Mr.  Childs  had  left  us.  I  was  surprised  to  find  him  one  of 
the  most  agreeable  of  conversationalists,  and  he  discussed 
politics  generally  and  the  Hayes-Tilden  contest  with  a  degree 
of  frankness  and  intelligence  that  surprised  me.  He  said 
that  he  confidently  expected  the  Electoral  Commission  to 
give  the  vote  of  Louisiana  to  Mr.  Tilden,  but  that  as  Chief 
Magistrate  it  was  his  duty  only  to  maintain  the  law,  and  that 
when  the  law  of  the  nation  made  the  Electoral  Commission 
a  final  tribunal  for  the  settlement  of  the  dispute,  he  would 
have  maintained  that  judgment  with  all  the  power  of  the 
Government. 

I  was  specially  gratified  at  this  interview  to  have  a  par- 
ticular prejudice  that  I  had  cherished  against  Grant  since 
1864  entirely  dissipated  by  a  conversation  into  which  I 
cautiously  led  him  on  the  Lincoln-McClellan  campaign  of 
1864.  I  have  stated  in  another  chapter  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
hesitated  in  October,  1864,  to  send  an  order  to  General 
Grant  to  furlough  five  thousand  of  his  Pennsylvania  soldiers 


16 


223 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

home  to  vote  for  President,  and  sent  it  to  Meade.  I  had 
known  how  Lincoln  had  sustained  Grant  after  the  battle 
of  Shiloh,  when  Grant  had  few  friends  and  none  outside  of 
Lincoln  able  to  sustain  him.  When  Lincoln  hesitated  to 
send  the  order  to  Grant,  I  spoke  very  freely  and  reminded 
Lincoln  how  he  had  saved  Grant,  and  wanted  to  know  why 
he  could  not  now  trust  the  man  who  would  have  been 
overwhelmed  but  for  the  generous  and  heroic  offices  of 
Lincoln.  Lincoln  finally  answered  that  he  had  never  received 
or  heard  of  any  expression  from  General  Grant  expressing 
a  preference  for  his  election  over  General  McClellan.  Lin- 
coln certainly  at  that  time  doubted  Grant's  attitude  in  that 
contest,  and  having  been  one  of  the  many  who  had  urged 
Lincoln  to  remove  Grant  from  his  command  after  Shiloh, 
I  could  not  fail  to  cherish  some  prejudice  against  Grant  as 
wanting  in  fidelity  to  Lincoln. 

In  our  general  discussion  of  politics  I  remarked  that  he 
had  very  studiously  avoided  all  political  expression  during 
the  war,  and  that  I  had  specially  noted  his  silence  during 
the  campaign  of  1864  between  Lincoln  and  McClellan.  His 
answer  was  prompt  and  given  evidently  in  the  frankest 
manner,  as  he  said  substantially :  "  Of  course,  I  could  not 
with  propriety  give  any  public  expression  in  a  political 
contest  where  one  candidate  had  given  me  the  highest  com- 
mission in  the  army  and  the  other  candidate  had  been  my 
predecessor  in  command  of  the  army."  The  answer  was 
given  in  such  simple  earnestness  that  I  never  thereafter 
doubted  Grant's  fidelity  to  Lincoln,  although  Lincoln  cer- 
tainly was  disappointed  that  Grant  gave  no  expression 
during  the  campaign.  On  the  night  of  Lincoln's  election 
Grant  sent  him  a  very  hearty  telegram  of  congratulation. 

President  Grant  drifted  into  a  political  control  that  ulti- 
mately made  his  administration  intensely  sectional  and  fac- 
tional, and  during  his  first  administration  he  was  intolerant 
of  criticism,  and  often  openly  disregarded  Republican  senti- 
ment in  sustaining  many  of  his  favorites,  who  brought 
scandals  upon  his  rule.  On  great  questions,  however,  Grant 
certainly  was  great.  He  conceived  the  idea  of  territorial 
expansion  that  has  been  so  successfully  carried  out  by  the 
present  administration  with  the  hearty  approval  of  an  over- 
whelming majority  of  the  people.  He  made  an  earnest 
movement  for  the  annexation  of  San  Domingo,  and  he  gave 
exhaustive  public  and  private  efforts  to  attain  it.  This 

224 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

policy  was  severely  criticised  by  some  of  the  leading  members 
of  the  party,  prominent  among  whom  were  Sumner  and 
Greeley,  and  the  San  Domingo  scheme  was  ridiculed  from 
one  end  of  the  country  to  the  other  as  a  wild,  visionary, 
political  enterprise,  designed  to  give  place  and  fortune  to 
administration  favorites. 

So  bitter  did  the  Republican  national  feud  become  that 
the  anti-administration  leaders  decided  to  take  the  initiative 
in  opposing  Grant's  re-election.  At  no  time  in  the  history 
of  any  administration  was  the  political  machinery  of  the 
Government  so  complete  and  despotic  as  it  was  under  Grant, 
although  not  in  any  degree  personally  directed  by  himself, 
and  it  was  well  known  that  the  opposition  would  have  little 
voice  in  the  regular  Republican  convention,  and  that  it  was 
entirely  powerless  to  prevent  Grant  being  presented  as  the 
Republican  nominee. 

The  first  national  conventions  of  the  year  were  held  at 
Columbus,  O.,  in  February.  The  Labor  Reformers  were 
first  in  the  field,  as  their  convention  was  held  at  Columbus 
on  the  2 ist  of  February,  with  Edward  M.  Chamberlain, 
of  Massachusetts,  as  President.  This  convention  was  made 
up  largely  or  wholly  of  men  who  believed  in  the  greenback 
policy,  as  it  demanded  an  indefinite  issue  of  greenbacks, 
which  would  be  a  legal  tender  for  the  payment  of  all  public 
and  private  debts.  The  following  is  the  full  text  of  its 
platform : 

We  hold  that  all  political  power  is  inherent  in  the  people,  and 
free  government  is  founded  on  their  authority  and  established  for 
their  benefit;  that  all  citizens  are  equal  in  political  rights,  entitled 
to  the  largest  religious  and  political  liberty  compatible  with  the 
good  order  of  society,  as  also  to  the  use  and  enjoyment  of  the  fruits 
of  their  labor  and  talents ;  and  no  man  or  set  of  men  is  entitled  to 
exclusive  separable  endowments  and  privileges,  or  immunities  from 
the  Government,  but  in  consideration  of  public  services;  and  any 
laws  destructive  of  these  fundamental  principles  are  without  moral 
binding  force,  and  should  be  repealed.  And  believing  that  all  the 
evils  resulting  from  unjust  legislation  now  affecting  the  industrial 
classes  can  be  removed  by  the  adoption  of  the  principles  contained 
in  the  following  declaration,  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Government  to  establish  a 
just  standard  of  distribution  of  capital  and  labor  by  providing  a 
purely  national  circulating  medium,  based  on  the  faith  and  re- 
sources of  the  nation,  issued  directly  to  the  people  without  the 
intervention  of  any  system  of  banking  corporations;  which  money 
shall  be  legal  tender  in  the  payment  of  all  debts,  public  and  private, 
and  interchangeable  at  the  option  of  the  holder  for  Government 

225 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

bonds  bearing  a  rate  of  interest  not  to  exceed  3.65  per  cent.,  subject 
to  future  legislation  by  Congress. 

2.  That  the  national  debt  should  be  paid  in  good  faith,  according 
to  the  original  contract,  at  the  earliest  option  of  the  Government, 
without  mortgaging  the  property  of  the  people  or  the  future  earn- 
ings of  labor,  to  enrich  a  few  capitalists  at  home  and  abroad. 

3.  That  justice  demands  that  the  burdens  of  Government  should 
be  so  adjusted  as  to  bear  equally  on  all  classes,  and  that  the  exemp- 
tion from  taxation  of  Government  bonds  bearing  extortionate  rates 
of  interest  is  a  violation  of  all  just  principles  of  revenue  laws. 

4.  That  the  public  lands  of  the  United  States  belong  to  the  people 
and  should  not  be  sold  to  individuals  nor  granted  to  corporations, 
but  should  be  held  as  a  sacred  trust  for  the  benefit  of  the  people, 
and  should  be  granted  to  landless  settlers  only,  in  amounts  not  ex- 
ceeding one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land. 

5.  That  Congress  should  modify  the  tariff  so  as  to  admit  free  such 
articles  of  common  use  as  we  can  neither  produce  nor  grow,  and 
lay  duties   for   revenue   mainly   upon   articles   of  luxury   and   upon 
such  articles  of  manufacture  as  will,  we  having  the  raw  materials 
in  abundance,  assist  in  further  developing    the    resources    of    the 
country. 

6.  That   the  presence   in   our   country  of   Chinese   laborers,    im- 
ported by  capitalists  in  large  numbers  for  servile  use,  is  an  evil, 
entailing  want  and  its  attendant  train  of  misery  and  crime  on  all 
classes  of  the    American    people,   and    should    be    prohibited    by 
legislation. 

7.  That  we  ask  for  the  enactment  of  a  law  by  which  all   me- 
chanics and  day-laborers  employed  by  or  on  behalf  of  the  Govern- 
ment,   whether    directly   or    indirectly,    through    persons,    firms,    or 
corporations,   contracting  with  the  State,   shall  conform  to  the  re- 
duced standard  of  eight  hours  a  day,  recently  adopted  by  Congress 
for  national  employes,  and  also  for  an  amendment  to  the  acts  of 
incorporation   for  cities    and    towns,  by    which    all    laborers    and 
mechanics    employed    at    their    expense  shall  conform  to  the  same 
number  of  hours. 

8.  That  the  enlightened  spirit  of  the  age  demands  the  abolition 
of  the  system  of  contract  labor  in  our  prisons  and  other  reformatory 
institutions. 

9.  That  the  protection  of  life,  liberty,  and  property  are  the  three 
cardinal   principles   of    government,   and    the  first    two    are    more 
sacred   than   the   latter ;     therefore   money   needed    for    prosecuting 
wars  should,  as  it  is  required,  be  assessed  and  collected  from  the 
wealth  of  the  country,  and  not  entailed  as  a  burden  upon  posterity. 

10.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Government  to  exercise  its  power 
over  railroads  and  telegraph  corporations,  that  they  shall  not  in  any 
case  be  privileged  to  exact  such  rates  of  freight,  transportation,  or 
charges,  by  whatever  name,  as  may  bear  unduly  or  unequally  upon 
the  producer  or  consumer. 

11.  That  there  should  be  such  a  reform  in  the  civil  service  of  the 
national  Government  as  will  remove  it  beyond  all  partisan  influ- 
ence, and  place  it  in  the  charge  and  under  the  direction  of  intelli- 
gent and  competent  business  men. 

12.  That   as   both   history   and   experience  teach   us   that   power 
ever  seeks  to  perpetuate  itself  by  every  and  all  means,  and  that  its 

226 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


prolonged  possession  in  the  hands  of  one  person  is  always  dan- 
gerous to  the  interests  of  a  free  people,  and  believing  that  the  spirit 
of  our  organic  laws  and  the  stability  and  safety  of  our  free  in- 
stitutions are  best  obeyed  on  the  one  hand  and  secured  on  the  other 
by  a  regular  constitutional  change  in  the  chief  of  the  country  at 
each  election ;  therefore,  we  are  in  favor  of  limiting  the  oc- 
cupancy of  the  Presidential  chair  to  one  term. 

13.  That  we  are  in  favor  of  granting  general  amnesty  and  restor- 
ing the  Union  at  once  on  the  basis  of  equality  of  rights  and  priv- 
ileges to  all,  the  impartial  administration  of  justice  being  the  only 
true  bond  of  union   to  bind  the   States  together  and   restore   the 
government  of  the  people. 

14.  That  we  demand  the  subjection  of  the  military  to  the  civil 
authorities,  and  the  confinement  of  its  operations  to  national  pur- 
poses alone. 

15.  That  we  deem  it  expedient  for  Congress  to  supervise  the  patent 
laws,  so  as  to  give  labor  more  fully  the  benefit  of  its  own  ideas  and 
inventions. 

16.  That  fitness,   and  not    political    or    personal    considerations, 
should  be  the  only  recommendation  to  public  office,  either  appointive 
or  elective,  and  any  and  all  laws  looking  to  the  establishment  of 
this  principle  are  heartily  approved. 

Four  ballots  were  had  to  nominate  a  candidate  for  Presi- 
dent, resulting  in  the  choice  of  David  Davis,  of  Illinois. 
The  following  table  exhibits  the  ballots  in  detail : 


First. 

Second. 

Third. 

Fourth. 

John  W.  Geary,  of  Pennsylvania  .  . 
Horace  H.  Day,  of  New  York  
David  Davis  of  Illinois 

60 
59 

47 

21 

88 

59 
93 

3 
201 

Wendell  Phillips,  of  Massachusetts 
J.  M.  Palmer,  of  Illinois 

13 
8 

76 

12 

Joel  Parker,  of  New  Jersey  .  ... 

7 

7 

7 

7 

George  W.  Julian,  of  Indiana  
B.  Gratz  Brown,  of  Missouri  

6 

1 

5 

14 

Horace  Greeley,  of  New  York.  .  .  . 

— 

— 

11 

— 

Two  ballots  were  had  for  Vice-President,  as  follows : 


First. 

Second. 

E.  M.  Chamberlain,  Massachusetts.  .  .  . 
Joel  Parker,  New  Jersey.           .  . 

72 

70 

57 

112 

Allanson  M.  West,  Mississippi   

18 

Thomas  Ewing,  Ohio  

31 

22 

W.  G.  Bryan    Tennessee 

10 

227 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Davis  and  Parker  were  unanimously  declared  the  candi- 
dates of  the  party  for  President  and  Vice-President. 

Although  Judge  Davis  had  responded  by  telegraph  to 
the  notification  of  his  nomination  from  the  convention, 
expressing  his  gratitude  for  the  honor  conferred,  he  did  not 
definitely  accept.  Had  Judge  Davis  been  nominated  by  the 
Liberal  Republicans  at  Cincinnati  in  May,  he  would  doubt- 
less have  remained  as  the  candidate  of  the  Labor  Reformers, 
but  in  June,  when  there  was  no  possibility  of  him  being 
a  candidate  of  any  other  organization,  Davis  and  Parker 
both  declined  and  retired  from  the  contest.  A  small  portion 
of  the  delegates  were  reconvened,  and  Charles  O'Conor, 
of  New  York,  was  nominated  for  President,  without  naming 
any  candidate  for  Vice-President.  Thus,  the  Labor  Reform 
organization  was  practically  out  of  the  battle  of  1872. 

A  Prohibition  National  Convention  was  also  held  at  Co- 
lumbus on  the  22d  of  February,  with  representatives  from 
nine  States,  and  Samuel  Chase,  of  Ohio,  was  made  perma- 
nent president.  A  platform  was  adopted  chiefly  against 
the  liquor  traffic.  Every  material  deliverance  in  it  is  sub- 
stantially repeated  with  additions  in  the  Prohibition  plat- 
form of  1876  (see  page  258),  and  I  omit  the  full  text  of  the 
platform  of  1872.  James  Black,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  nomi- 
nated for  President,  and  John  Russell,  of  Michigan,  for 
Vice-President  by  a  unanimous  vote,  after  having  been  pre- 
sented by  a  committee  on  nominations. 

The  Liberal  Republican  National  Convention  met  at 
Cincinnati  on  the  1st  of  May.  The  organized  Republican 
opposition  to  Grant  had  its  origin  in  the  State  contest  in 
Missouri,  where  the  Democrats  and  the  Liberals  united  to 
efface  a  most  prescriptive  Constitution  and  laws,  denying 
all  rights  of  citizenship  to  those  who  had  been  engaged  in 
rebellion.  A  number  of  meetings  were  held  in  the  Western 
cities  to  organize  the  Liberal  Republican  party,  and  it  was 
a  mass-meeting  of  the  Liberals  of  Missouri  in  Jefferson 
City,  in  January,  1872,  that  first  decided  to  call  a  national 
convention  of  Liberal  Republicans,  and  fixed  Cincinnati  and 
the  ist  of  May  as  the  place  and  time  for  it  to  assemble. 

It  seemed  evident  to  all  who  had  intelligently  and  dis- 
passionately observed  the  political  situation  that  the  majority 
of  the  people  of  the  country  would  vote  against  the  re- 
election of  Grant  if  they  could  be  heartily  united,  but  the 
elements  were  strangely  incongruous,  as  Greeley,  Sumner, 

228 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

Trumbull,  and  many  others  of  the  Liberal  leaders  had  been 
among  the  most  earnest  champions  of  radical  Republicanism, 
and  had  antagonized  the  Democratic  party  so  fiercely  and 
persistently  as  to  make  unity  between  them  apparently  im- 
possible. It  was  only  the  utterly  helpless  condition  of  the 
Democrats  that  made  them  entertain  the  question  of  fusing 
with  the  Liberals  by  taking  their  ticket  and  platform. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  Mr.  Vallandingham,  one  of  the 
most  aggressive  of  all  the  Northern  "  Copperheads"  during 
the  war,  and  who  had  been  arrested  by  Burnside  and 
banished  into  the  Southern  lines,  was  one  of  the  first  of  the 
leading  Democrats  to  propose  a  union  of  all  the  elements 
opposed  to  Grant  and  unite  in  fully  accepting  the  results 
of  the  war,  the  reconstruction  policy,  and  the  amendments 
to  the  Constitution.  I  attended  this  convention  as  a  delegate 
and  acted  as  chairman  of  the  delegation.  Of  the  prominent 
men  named  for  the  nomination,  I  greatly  preferred  David 
Davis,  the  executor  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  a  man  so 
conservative  and  liberal  in  his  political  views  and  so  thor- 
oughly identified  with  the  substantial  interests  of  the  country 
that  he  would  have  provoked  no  antagonism  whatever  from 
the  financial  and  business  interests  of  the  nation,  but  Horace 
Greeley  was  his  competitor  for  the  place,  and  there  was  no 
man  in  the  country  for  whom  I  cherished  stronger  affection. 
I  had  known  Greeley  for  many  years. 

When  the  Liberal  agitation  began,  the  prominent  can- 
didates discussed  were  Horace  Greeley,  Charles  Francis 
Adams,  David  Davis,  and  B.  Gratz  Brown,  of  Missouri. 
Greeley  became  intensely  interested  in  his  own  nomination. 
He  felt  that  he  had  devoted  his  life  to  the  best  efforts  for 
his  country,  and  especially  for  the  lowly.  He  was  the 
foremost  of  all  in  the  great  battle  for  the  overthrow  of 
slavery,  and  he  craved  the  recognition  of  his  work  by  an 
election  to  the  Presidency.  Before  the .  convention  met  he 
made  an  appointment  to  meet  me  at  the  Colonnade  Hotel 
in  Philadelphia.  He  felt  that  he  could  speak  with  entire 
freedom  to  me,  and  he  opened  his  heart  to  the  full  extent 
of  saying  how  much  he  desired  the  nomination  and  what  it 
meant  to  him. 

Could  I  have  made  him  President,  I  would  gladly  have 
done  so,  but  I  knew  that  he  could  not  be  elected,  and  told 
him  so  with  frankness  that  he  appreciated.  He  yielded  to 
my  judgment  as  to  his  availability,  and  accepted  the  sugges- 

229 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

tion  that  had  then  been  made  generally  by  the  more  conserva- 
tive of  the  Liberal  Republicans  that  David  Davis  would  be 
the  only  candidate  who  could  certainly  defeat  Grant.  He  was 
conservative,  able,  and  clear-headed,  and  the  business  inter- 
ests of  the  country  would  have  had  entire  confidence  in  him. 
In  answer  to  my  statement  that  the  Democrats  certainly 
could  not  be  united  in  Greeley's  favor,  and  without  which 
an  election  could  not  be  accomplished,  he  said :  "  Well,  if 
they  won't  take  me  head  foremost,  they  might  take  me  boots 
foremost,"  meaning  for  Vice-President.  I  said  I  did 
not  doubt  that  his  nomination  for  the  second  place  could  be 
accomplished  with  every  prospect  of  success  at  the  election. 
We  parted  with  the  distinct  understanding  that  his  friends 
should  move  unitedly  to  nominate  David  Davis  for  President 
and  Greeley  for  Vice-President. 

When  we  reached  Cincinnati  a  conference  of  the  leading 
friends  of  Davis  and  Greeley  was  held  the  night  before  the 
convention  met,  Senator  Fenton  being  present  as  the  leader 
of  the  Greeley  forces.  Leonard  Swett,  the  immediate  repre- 
sentative of  Davis,  was  present,  along  with  John  D.  Defrees, 
of  Indiana,  and  a  number  of  others.  The  plan  of  operation 
was  agreed  upon,  and  when  we  adjourned  to  enjoy  a  late 
supper  we  regarded  it  as  settled  that  Davis  and  Greeley 
would  be  nominated  on  the  next  day. 

About  midnight  it  was  whispered  that  General  Frank  P. 
Blair,  as  the  representative  of  B.  Gratz  Brown,  of  Missouri, 
and  others  had  held  a  secret  conference  to  unite  the  Greeley 
and  Brown  forces  to  make  Greeley  the  candidate  for  Presi- 
dent and  Brown  second  on  the  ticket.  We  soon  discovered 
that  the  movement  had  been  thoroughly  organized,  and 
many  Greeley  men  who  were  much  more  zealous  than 
discreet  at  once  accepted  the  new  situation,  and  forced  even 
Fenton  to  fall  back  to  the  support  of  Greeley.  Fenton  was 
one  of  Greeley's  most  sincere  and  devoted  friends,  and  it 
was  with  great  reluctance  that  he  joined  in  the  effort  to 
nominate  Greeley  when  he  felt  that  it  could  result  only  in 
crucifying  him.  The  withdrawal  of  the  Greeley  men  from 
the  Davis-Greeley  combination  left  Davis  a  hopeless  candi- 
date, as  the  convention  was  largely  radical  and  little  inclined 
to  consider  questions  of  expediency. 

The  Liberal  Republican  National  Convention  was  simply 
a  huge  mass-meeting,  with  nearly  all  of  the  States  of  the 
Union  represented,  and  it  was  boiling  over  with  go-as-you- 

230 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


please  independence  in  politics.  Stanley  Matthews,  afterward 
made  Supreme  Judge,  was  temporary  president,  and  although 
he  denounced  the  Grant  administration  in  his  opening  speech 
as  a  monument  of  corruption,  he  soon  thereafter  bolted 
Greeley  and  supported  Grant.  Carl  Schurz  was  made  per- 
manent president.  The  contest  for  President  was  evidently 
narrowed  down  to  Adams  and  Greeley.  I  voted  on  every 
ballot  for  Adams,  with  whom  I  had  little  sympathy,  and 
three-fourths  of  the  Pennsylvania  delegation  voted  with  me. 
On  the  6th  ballot  Greeley  was  nominated  by  changes  of 
votes  after  the  ballot  had  been  announced,  but  I  did  not 
change  the  vote  of  Pennsylvania  until  he  had  received  a 
majority  of  the  votes  of  the  convention.  The  following  are 
the  ballots  for  President : 


First. 

Second 

Third. 

Fourth 

Fifth. 

Sixth. 

Charles  Francis  Adams,  Mass.  .  . 
Horace  Greeley,  New  York  
Lyman  Trumbull,  Illinois  
B.  Gratz  Brown,  Missouri  
David  Davis,  Illinois  

203 
147 
110 
95 
92U 

243 
245 
148 
2 
75 

264 
258 
156 
2 
41 

279 
251 
141 
2 
51 

258 
309 
81 
2 
30 

324 
332 
19 

6 

Andrew  G.  Curtin,  Pennsylvania 
Salmon  P  Chase  Ohio 

62 
2Vfe 

1 

24 

32 

Mr.  Greeley's  nomination  was  made  unanimous,  and  the 
convention  proceeded  to  ballot  for  Vice-President  as  follows : 


First. 

Second. 

B.  Gratz  Brown,  Missouri  

237 

435 

Lyman  Trumbull,  Illinois 

158 

175 

George  W.  Julian,  Indiana 

134^ 

Gilbert  C.  Walker,  Virginia. 

84i! 

75 

Cassius  M.  Clay,  Kentucky  

34^ 

Jacob  D.  Cox,  Ohio  

25 

John  M.  Scoville,  New  Jersey  

12 

Thomas  W.  Tipton,  Nebraska. 

8 

3 

John  M.  Palmer,  Illinois 

8 

The  following  platform  was  unanimously  adopted : 

The  administration  now  in  power  has  rendered  itself  guilty  of 
wanton  disregard  of  the  laws  of  the  land,  and  of  usurping  powers 
not  granted  by  the  Constitution ;  it  has  acted  as  if  the  laws  had 
binding  force  only  for  those  who  were  governed,  and  not  for  those 

231 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

who  govern.  It  has  thus  struck  a  blow  at  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  constitutional  government  and  the  liberties  of  the  citizen. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  has  openly  used  the  powers 
and  opportunities  of  his  high  office  for  the  promotion  of  personal 
ends. 

He  has  kept  notoriously  corrupt  and  unworthy  men  in  places  of 
power  and  responsibility,  to  the  detriment  of  the  public  interest. 

He  has  used  the  public  service  of  the  Government  as  a  machinery 
of  corruption  and  personal  influence,  and  has  interfered  with  tyran- 
nical arrogance  in  the  political  affairs  of  States  and  municipalities. 

He  has  rewarded  with  influential  and  lucrative  offices  men  who 
had  acquired  his  favor  by  valuable  presents,  thus  stimulating  the 
demoralization  of  our  political  life  by  his  conspicuous  example. 

He  has  shown  himself  deplorably  unequal  to  the  task  imposed 
upon  him  by  the  necessities  of  the  country,  and  culpably  careless 
of  the  responsibilities  of  his  high  office. 

The  partisans  of  the  administration,  assuming  to  be  the  Repub- 
lican party  and  controlling  its  organization,  have  attempted  to  justify 
such  wrongs  and  palliate  such  abuses  to  the  end  of  maintaining 
partisan  ascendancy. 

They  have  stood  in  the  way  of  necessary  investigations  and  indis- 
pensable reforms,  pretending  that  no  serious  fault  could  be  found 
with  the  present  administration  of  public  affairs,  thus  seeking  to 
blind  the  eyes  of  the  people. 

They  have  kept  alive  the  passions  and  resentments  of  the  late 
civil  war,  to  use  them  for  their  own  advantage;  they  have  resorted 
to  arbitrary  measures  in  direct  conflict  with  the  organic  law,  instead 
of  appealing  to  the  better  instincts  and  latent  patriotism  of  the 
Southern  people  by  restoring  to  them  those  rights  the  enjoyment 
of  which  is  indispensable  to  a  successful  administration  of  their 
local  affairs,  and  would  tend  to  revive  a  patriotic  and  hopeful 
national  feeling. 

They  have  degraded  themselves  and  the  name  of  their  party, 
once  justly  entitled  to  the  confidence  of  the  nation,  by  a  base  syco- 
phancy to  the  dispenser  of  executive  power  and  patronage,  un- 
worthy of  republican  freemen ;  they  have  sought  to  silence  the 
voice  of  just  criticism,  and  stifle  the  moral  sense  of  the  people,  and 
to  subjugate  public  opinion  by  tyrannical  party  discipline. 

They  are  striving  to  maintain  themselves  in  authority  for  selfish 
ends  by  an  unscrupulous  use  of  the  power  which  rightfully  belongs 
to  the  people,  and  should  be  employed  only  in  the  service  of  the 
country. 

Believing  that  an  organization  thus  led  and  controlled  can  no 
longer  be  of  service  to  the  best  interests  of  the  Republic,  we  have 
resolved  to  make  an  independent  appeal  to  the  sober  judgment, 
conscience,  and  patriotism  of  the  American  people. 

We,  the  Liberal  Republicans  of  the  United  States,  in  national 
convention  assembled  at  Cincinnati,  proclaim  the  following  prin- 
ciples as  essential  to  just  government: 

1.  We  recognize  the  equality  of  all  men  before  the  law,  and  hold 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  government,  in  its  dealings  with  the  people, 
to  mete  out  equal   and   exact  justice  to  all,   of  whatever   nativity, 
race,  color,  or  persuasion,  religious  or  political. 

2.  We  pledge  ourselves  to  maintain  the  union  of  these   States, 

232 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

emancipation  and  enfranchisement,  and  to  oppose  any  reopening 
of  the  questions  settled  by  the  Thirteenth,  Fourteenth,  and  Fifteenth 
Amendments  of  the  Constitution. 

3.  We  demand  the  immediate  and  absolute  removal  of  all  dis- 
abilities imposed  on  account  of   the   Rebellion,  which   was   finally 
subdued    seven    years    ago,    believing   that    universal    amnesty    will 
result  in  complete  pacification  in  all  sections  of  the  country. 

4.  Local  self-government,  with  impartial  suffrage,  will  guard  the 
rights   of  all   citizens   more   securely   than   any  centralized   power. 
The  public  welfare  requires  the  supremacy  of  the  civil   over  the 
military  authority,  and  the  freedom  of  the  person  under  the  protec- 
tion  of  the  habeas   corpus.     We   demand    for   the   individual    the 
largest  liberty  consistent  with  public  order,  for  the  State  self-gov- 
ernment, and  for  the  nation  a  return  to  the  methods  of  peace  and 
the  constitutional  limitations  of  power. 

5.  The  civil  service  of  the  Government  has  become  a  mere  instru- 
ment of  partisan  tyranny  and  personal  ambition,  and  an  object  of 
selfish  greed.     It  is  a  scandal  and  reproach  upon  free  institutions, 
and  breeds  a  demoralization  dangerous  to  the  perpetuity  of  repub- 
lican government.     We  therefore  regard  a  thorough  reform  of  the 
civil  service  as  one  of  the  most  pressing  necessities  of  the  hour ;  that 
honesty,  capacity    and    fidelity    constitute  the  only  valid  claims  to 
public  employment ;  that  the  offices  of  the  Government  cease  to  be  a 
matter  of  arbitrary  favoritism  and  patronage,  and  that  public  station 
shall  become  again  a  post  of  honor.     To  this  end  it  is  imperatively 
required  that  no  President  shall  be  a  candidate  for  re-election. 

6.  We  demand  a  system  of  Federal  taxation  which  shall  not  un- 
necessarily  interfere  with  the  industry  of  the  people,   and   which 
shall  provide  the  means  necessary  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  Gov- 
ernment,  economically  administered,  the  pensions,  the  interest  on 
the  public  debt,  and  a  moderate  reduction  annually  of  the  principal 
thereof;    and  recognizing  that  there  are  in  our  midst  honest  but 
irreconcilable  differences  of  opinion  with  regard  to  the  respective 
systems  of  protection  and  free  trade,  we  remit  the  discussion  of  the 
subject  to  the  people  in  their  congressional  districts  and  the  decision 
of   Congress   thereon,  wholly   free   from   executive   interference   or 
dictation. 

7.  The  public  credit  must  be  sacredly   maintained,   and   we   de- 
nounce repudiation  in  every  form  and  guise. 

8.  A  speedy  return  to  specie  payments  is  demanded  alike  by  the 
highest  considerations  of  commercial  morality  and  honest  govern- 
ment. 

9.  We  remember  with  gratitude  the  heroism  and  sacrifices  of  the 
soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  Republic,  and  no  act  of  ours  shall  ever 
detract  from  their  justly  earned  fame  or  the  full  rewards  of  their 
patriotism. 

10.  We  are  opposed  to  all  further  grants  of  lands  to  railroads  or 
other    corporations.     The  public  domain  should  be  held  sacred  to 
actual  settlers. 

11.  We  hold  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Government  in  its  inter- 
course with  foreign  nations  to  cultivate  the  friendships  of  peace  by 
treating  with  all  on  fair  and  equal  terms,  regarding  it  alike  dishon- 
orable to  demand  what  is  not  right  or  submit  to  what  is  wrong. 

12.  For  the  promotion  and  success  of  these  vital  principles,  and 

233 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

the  support  of  the  candidates  nominated  by  this  convention,  we 
invite  and  cordially  welcome  the  co-operation  of  all  patriotic  citizens, 
without  regard  to  previous  political  affiliations. 

When  the  convention  adjourned  I  regarded  the  opportu- 
nity to  make  a  successful  contest  against  Grant  as  wholly 
lost.  Greeley  had  been  hammering  the  Democrats  in  his 
pungent  paragraphs  for  thirty  years,  and  they  could  have 
little  sympathy  with  him,  and  the  business  interests  of  the 
country  could  not  accept  a  President  whose  financial  policy 
was  expressed  in  the  single  sentence,  "  The  way  to  resume 
is  to  resume,"  referring,  of  course,  to  the  resumption  of 
specie  payments,  then  the  most  vital  issue.  There  were 
a  number  of  prominent  Democrats  at  the  convention  as 
spectators,  and  I  was  surprised  to  learn  before  midnight 
that  many  of  them  had  decided  to  favor  the  nomination  of 
the  Cincinnati  ticket  by  the  Democratic  convention. 

The  Democrats  of  Tennessee  led  off  for  the  endorsement 
of  Greeley  by  the  Democratic  National  Convention,  as  did 
a  number  of  other  States,  but  it  was  not  until  the  Democratic 
State  Convention  of  Indiana  met  and  nominated  Hendricks 
for  Governor,  with  a  positive  declaration  in  favor  of  sup- 
porting the  Liberal  Republican  national  ticket,  that  the 
position  of  the  Democratic  party  was  finally  determined. 
After  the  bold  attitude  assumed  by  Hendricks,  the  Demo- 
cratic dispute  as  to  the  policy  of  the  party  practically  ended. 
It  was  very  generally  accepted  that  the  only  chance  the 
Democrats  had  was  to  fall  in  as  part  of  the  Liberal  Repub- 
lican procession. 

The  Republican  National  Convention  met  in  Philadelphia 
on  the  5th  of  June,  and  as  all  the  disturbing  anti-administra- 
tion elements  had  been  eliminated  by  the  organization  of  the 
Liberal  Republicans,  there  was  entire  harmony  in  the  renomi- 
nation  of  General  Grant.  Morton  McMichael,  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, was  temporary  chairman,  and  Judge  Settle,  of  North 
Carolina,  permanent  presiding  officer.  The  nomination  of 
Grant  was  made  by  acclamation  and  with  great  enthusiasm, 
but  there  was  a  spirited  and,  indeed,  a  desperate  contest  for 
the  Vice-Presidency.  Colfax  had  been  in  ill-health  some 
months  before  the  meeting  of  the  convention,  and  publicly 
announced  his  purpose  not  to  be  a  candidate  for  re-election. 
Until  then  he  had  been  an  almost  universal  favorite  with  the 
newspaper  correspondents  of  Washington,  who  had  then 
become  a  very  formidable  political  power,  but  after  the 

234 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

announcement  of  his  retirement  his  fellowship  with  them 
gradually  diminished,  and  when  later  he  announced  that, 
notwithstanding  his  public  declination,  he  would  be  a  can- 
didate for  renomination,  the  Washington  newspaper  men 
organized  and  made  an  aggressive  battle  against  him.  It  is 
not  disputed  that  they  accomplished  his  defeat,  as  Henry 
Wilson,  of  Massachusetts,  was  nominated  on  the  1st  ballot, 
receiving  364^  votes  to  321!  for  Colfax. 

The  campaign  literature  of  this  contest  presented  the 
singular  fact  that  neither  of  the  Republican  candidates  for  the 
two  highest  offices  of  the  Government  bore  his  own  proper 
name.  Grant's  name  was  Hiram  Ulysses,  but  when  he  was 
appointed  a  cadet  to  West  Point  he  was  erroneously  entered 
as  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  and  he  accepted  that  name  until  his 
death.  Another  campaign  story  told  how  Henry  Wilson's 
true  name  was  Jeremiah  Colbath,  and  that  when  known  as 
the  "  Natick  Cobbler  "  he  studied  night  and  day  to  advance 
himself.  He  was  very  much  charmed  with  the  eloquence  of 
Representative  Wilson,  of  New  Hampshire,  and  he  finally 
adopted  the  name  of  Henry  Wilson,  by  which  he  Was  known 
throughout  his  entire  public  career.  The  following  platform 
was  unanimously  adopted : 

The  Republican  party  of  the  United  States,  assembled  in  national 
convention  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  on  the  5th  and  6th  days 
of  June,  1872,  again  declares  its  faith,  appeals  to  its  history,  and 
announces  its  position  upon  the  questions  before  the  country. 

During  eleven  years  of  supremacy  it  has  accepted  with  grand 
courage  the  solemn  duties  of  the  time.  It  suppressed  a  gigantic 
rebellion,  emancipated  four  millions  of  slaves,  decreed  the  equal 
citizenship  of  all,  and  established  universal  suffrage.  Exhibiting 
unparalleled  magnanimity,  it  criminally  punished  no  man  for  political 
offences,  and  warmly  welcomed  all  who  proved  loyalty  by  obeying 
the  laws  and  dealing  justly  with  their  neighbors.  It  has  steadily 
decreased  with  firm  hand  the  resultant  disorders  of  a  great  war,  and 
initiated  a  wise  and  humane  policy  toward  the  Indians.  The  Pa- 
cific Railroad  and  similar  vast  enterprises  have  been  generously 
aided  and  successfully  conducted,  the  public  lands  freely  given  to 
actual  settlers,  immigration  protected  and  encouraged,  and  a  full 
acknowledgment  of  the  naturalized  citizens'  rights  secured  from 
European  powers.  A  uniform  national  currency  has  been  provided, 
repudiation  frowned  down,  the  national  credit  sustained  under  the 
most  extraordinary  burdens,  and  new  bonds  negotiated  at  lower 
rates.  The  revenues  have  been  carefully  collected  and  honestly 
applied.  Despite  annual  large  reductions  of  the  rates  of  taxation, 
the  public  debt  has  been  reduced  during  General  Grant's  Presidency 
at  the  rate  of  a  hundred  millions  a  year.  Great  financial  crises  have 
been  avoided,  and  peace  and  plenty  prevail  throughout  the  land. 
Menacing  foreign  difficulties  have  been  peacefully  and  honorably 

235 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

composed,  and  the  honor  and  power  of  the  nation  kept  in  high 
respect  throughout  the  world.  This  glorious  record  of  the  past  is 
the  party's  best  pledge  for  the  future.  We  believe  the  people  will 
not  intrust  the  Government  to  any  party  or  combination  of  men 
composed  chiefly  of  those  who  have  resisted  every  step  of  this  benefi- 
cent progress. 

2.  The   recent  amendments   to  the  national    Constitution   should 
be  cordially  sustained  because  they  are  right,  not  merely  tolerated 
because  they  are  law,  and  should  be  carried  out  according  to  their 
spirit  by  appropriate  legislation,  the  enforcement  of  which  can  safely 
be  intrusted  only  to  the  party  that  secured  these  amendments. 

3.  Complete  liberty  and  exact  equality  in  the  enjoyment  of  all 
civil,  political,  and  public  rights  should  be  established  and  effectu- 
ally maintained  throughout  the  Union  by  efficient  and  appropriate 
State  and  Federal  legislation.     Neither  the  law  nor  its  administra- 
tion should  admit  any  discrimination  in  respect  of  citizens  by  reason 
of  race,  creed,  color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude. 

4.  The  National  Government  should  seek  to  maintain  honorable 
peace  with  all  nations,  protecting  its  citizens  everywhere,  and  sym- 
pathizing with  all  peoples  who  strive  for  greater  liberty. 

5.  Any  system  of  the  civil  service  under  which  the  subordinate 
positions  of  the  Government  are  considered  rewards  for  mere  party 
zeal  is  fatally  demoralizing,  and  we  therefore  favor  a  reform  of  the 
system  by  laws  which  shall  abolish  the  evils  of  patronage  and  make 
honesty,  efficiency,  and  fidelity  the  essential  qualifications  for  public 
positions,  without  practically  creating  a  life-tenure  of  office. 

6.  We  are  opposed  to  further  grants  of  the  public  lands  to  cor- 
porations and  monopolies,  and  demand  that  the  national   domain 
be  set  apart  for  free  homes  for  the  people. 

7.  The  annual  revenue,  after  paying  current    expenditures,    pen- 
sions, and  the  interest  on  the  public  debt,  should  furnish  a  moderate 
balance  for  the  reduction  of  the  principal,  and  that  revenue,  except 
so  much  as  may  be  derived  from  a  tax  upon  tobacco  and  liquors, 
should  be  raised  by  duties  upon  importations,  the  details  of  which 
should  be  so  adjusted  as  to  aid  in  securing  remunerative  wages  to 
labor,  and  promote  the  industries,  prosperity,  and  growth  of  the 
whole  country. 

8.  We   hold   in   undying  honor   the   soldiers    and   sailors   whose 
valor  saved  the  Union.     Their  pensions  are  a  sacred  debt  of  the 
nation,  and  the  widows  and  orphans  of  those  who  died  for  their 
country  are  entitled  to  the  care  of  a  generous  and  grateful  people. 
We  favor  such  additional  legislation  as  will  extend  the  bounty  of 
the  Government  to  all  soldiers  and  sailors  who  were  honorably  dis- 
charged, and  who,  in  the  line    of    duty,  became    disabled,  without 
regard  to  the  length  of  service  or  cause  of  such  discharge. 

9.  The   doctrine   of   Great   Britain   and   other   European   powers 
concerning  allegiance  —  "Once    a    subject    always    a    subject"  — 
having  at  last,   through  the  efforts  of  the  Republican  party,  been 
abandoned,  and  the  American  idea  of  the  individual  right  ^to  transfer 
allegiance  having  been  accepted  by  European  nations,  it  is  the  duty 
of  our  Government  to  guard  with  jealous  care  the  rights  of  adopted 
citizens   against   the   assumption   of   unauthorized   claims   by   their 
former  governments,  and  we  urge  continued  careful  encouragement 
and  protection  of  voluntary  immigration. 

236 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

10.  The  franking  privilege  ought  to  be  abolished,  and  the  way 
prepared  for  a  speedy  reduction  in  the  rates  of  postage. 

11.  Among  the  questions  which  press  for  attention  is  that  which 
concerns   the   relations  of  capital   and   labor,    and   the   Republican 
party  recognizes  the  duty  of  so  shaping  legislation  as  to  secure  full 
protection  and  the  amplest  field  for  capital,  and  for  labor,  the  creator 
of  capital,  the  largest  opportunities  and  a  just  share  of  the  mutual 
profits  of  these  two  great  servants  of  civilization. 

12.  We  hold  that  Congress  and  the  President  have  only  fulfilled 
an  imperative  duty  in  their  measures  for  the  suppression  of  violent 
and  treasonable  organizations  in  certain  lately  rebellious  regions, 
and  for  the  protection  of  the  ballot-box;    and  therefore  they  are 
entitled  to  the  thanks  of  the  nation. 

13.  We  denounce  repudiation  of  the  public  debt,  in  any  form  or 
disguise,  as  a  national  crime.     We  witness  with  pride  the  reduction 
of  the  principal  of  the  debt,  and  of  the  rates  of  interest  upon  the 
balance,  and  confidently  expect  that  our  excellent  national  currency 
will  be  perfected  by  a  speedy  resumption  of  specie  payment. 

14.  The   Republican   party   is   mindful   of   its   obligations   to   the 
loyal   women   of   America   for   their   noble   devotion   to   the   cause 
of   freedom.      Their  admission  to  wider  spheres  of  usefulness  is 
viewed  with  satisfaction ;  and  the  honest  demand  of  any  class  of 
citizens    for    additional    rights    should    be    treated    with    respectful 
consideration. 

15.  We   heartily   approve   the   action   of   Congress    in   extending 
amnesty  to  those  lately  in  rebellion,  and  rejoice  in  the  growth  of 
peace  and  fraternal  feeling  throughout  the  land. 

16.  The  Republican  party  proposes  to  respect  the  rights  reserved 
by  the  people  to  themselves  as  carefully  as  the  powers  delegated  by 
them  to  the  States  and  to  the  Federal  Government.     It  disapproves 
of  the  resort  to  unconstitutional  laws  for  the  purpose  of  removing 
evils  by  interference  with  the  rights  not  surrendered  by  the  people 
to  either  the  State  or  the  National  Government. 

17.  It  is  the  duty  of    the  General  Government    to    adopt    such 
measures  as  may  tend  to  encourage  and  restore  American  commerce 
and  shipbuilding. 

18.  We  believe  that  the  modest  patriotism,  the  earnest  purpose, 
the  sound  judgment,  the  practical  wisdom,  the  incorruptible  integ- 
rity, and  the  illustrious  services  of  Ulysses   S.   Grant  have  com- 
mended him  to  the  heart  of  the  American  people,  and  with  him  at 
our  head  we  start  to-day  upon  a  new  march  to  victory. 

19.  Henry  Wilson,  nominated  for  the  Vice-Presidency,  known  to 
the  whole  land  from  the  early  days  of  the  great  struggle  for  liberty 
as  an  indefatigable  laborer  in  all  campaigns,  an  incorruptible  legis- 
lator, and  representative  man  of  American  institutions,   is  worthy 
to  associate  with  our  great  leader  and  share  the  honors  which  we 
pledge  our  best  efforts  to  bestow  upon  them. 

The  Democratic  National  Convention  met  in  Baltimore 
on  the  gth  of  July.  Thomas  Jefferson  Randolph,  of  Virginia, 
was  the  temporary  president  and  ex-Senator  James  R. 
Doolittle,  of  Wisconsin,  was  permanent  president.  The 
Cincinnati  Liberal  Republican  platform  was  reported  by  the 

237 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

committee  without  the  change  of  a  word.  Senator  Bayard, 
of  Delaware,  vigorously  opposed  it,  but  it  was  adopted  by 
670  to  62.  A  ballot  was  had  for  President,  resulting  as 
follows : 

Horace  Greeley,  New  York,  686  II  Thos.  F.  Bayard,  Delaware,     16 

Jeremiah  S.  Black,  Pennsyl-  Wm.  S.  Groesback,  Ohio  ...       2 

vania 21  ||  Blank 1 

On  the  ist  ballot  for  Vice-President,  B.  Gratz  Brown 
received  713  votes  to  6  for  John  W.  Stevenson,  of  Kentucky, 
and  13  blank.  The  nominations  were  then  made  unanimous. 
It  was  one  of  the  most  harmonious  conventions  that  I  ever 
witnessed,  and  there  was  very  general  and  absolute  confi- 
dence felt  that  the  Democrats  and  Liberals  united  could 
sweep  the  country  and  elect  Greeley  to  the  Presidency. 

There  were  few  among  the  Democratic  leaders  who  openly 
and  determinedly  dissented.  In  point  of  fact  the  Democratic 
leaders  were  quite  sufficiently  united  on  Greeley  to  have 
given  him  the  victory,  but  the  rank  and  file  refused  to  fol- 
low, as  was  proved  by  the  State  elections,  all  of  which 
showed  that  the  Democrats  lost  more  of  their  following  than 
the  Republicans  gave  them  from  the  Liberal  ranks. 

It  was  not  until  September  3d  that  the  Democratic  opposi- 
tion to  Greeley  took  form,  when  a  national  convention  was 
held  at  Louisville,  Ky.,  and  nominated  Charles  O'Conor, 
of  New  York,  for  President  and  John  Quincy  Adams,  of 
Massachusetts,  for  Vice-President  without  the  formality 
of  a  ballot.  Adams  had  agreed  to  accept  the  nomination  if 
O'Conor  stood  at  the  head  of  the  ticket,  but  O'Conor 
promptly  and  peremptorily  declined,  after  which  Mr.  Lyon, 
president  of  the  convention,  was  nominated  for  President, 
but  he  also  declined.  The  nomination  for  President  was 
then  tendered  to  Mr.  Adams,  but  he  refused,  and  finally  the 
convention  renominated  O'Conor,  and  adjourned  without 
inquiring  whether  the  candidates  would  stand  or  decline. 
The  following  is  the  platform  adopted  by  the  Democratic 
dissenters : 

Whereas,  A  frequent  recurrence  to  first  principles,  and  eternal 
vigilance  against  abuses,  are  the  wisest  provisions  for  liberty,  which 
is  the  source  of  progress,  and  fidelity  to  our  constitutional  system  is 
the  only  protection  for  either ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  the  original  basis  of  our  whole  political  structure 
is  a  consent  in  every  part  thereof.  The  people  of  each  State  volun- 
tarily created  their  State,  and  the  States  voluntarily  formed  the 

238 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


Union ;  and  each  State  has  provided,  by  its  written  Constitution, 
for  everything  a  State  should  do  for  the  protection  of  life,  liberty, 
and  property  within  it;  and  each  State,  jointly  with  the  others,  pro- 
vided a  Federal  Union  for  foreign  and  inter-State  relations. 

Resolved,  That  all  government  powers,  whether  State  or  Federal, 
are  trust  powers  coming  from  the  people  of  each  State ;  and  that 
they  are  limited  to  the  written  letter  of  the  Constitution  and  the 
laws  passed  in  pursuance  of  it,  which  powers  must  be  exercised  in 
the  utmost  good  faith,  the  Constitution  itself  providing  in  what  man- 
ner they  may  be  altered  and  amended. 

Resolved,  That  the  interests  of  labor  and  capital  should  not  be 
permitted  to  conflict,  but  should  be  harmonized  by  judicious  legisla- 
tion. While  such  a  conflict  continues,  labor,  which  is  the  parent  of 
wealth,  is  entitled  to  paramount  consideration. 

Resolved,  That  we  proclaim  to  the  world  that  principle  is  to  be 
preferred  to  power ;  that  the  Democratic  party  is  held  together  by 
the  cohesion  of  time-honored  principles  which  they  will  never  sur- 
render in  exchange  for  all  the  offices  which  presidents  can  confer. 
The  pangs  of  the  minorities  are  doubtless  excruciating ;  but  we  wel- 
come an  eternal  minority  under  the  banner  inscribed  with  our  prin- 
ciples rather  than  an  almighty  and  everlasting  majority  purchased 
by  their  abandonment. 

Resolved,  That,  having  been  betrayed  at  Baltimore  into  a  false 
creed  and  a  false  leadership  by  the  convention,  we  repudiate  both, 
and  appeal  to  the  people  to  approve  our  platform,  and  to  rally  to 
the  polls  and  support  the  true  platform,  and  the  candidates  who 
embody  it. 

Resolved,  That  we  are  opposed  to  giving  public  lands  to  corpora- 
tions, and  favor  their  disposal  to  actual  settlers  only. 

Resolved,  That  we  favor  a  judicious  tariff  for  revenue  purposes 
only,  and  that  we  are  unalterably  opposed  to  class  legislation  which 
enriches  a  few  at  the  expense  of  the  many  under  the  plea  of  pro- 
tection. 

The  campaign  was  a  very  earnest  one,  but  after  the 
Greeley  tide  had  struck  its  ebb  in  the  North  Carolina  elec- 
tion in  August,  the  battle  was  a  hopeless  one  for  Greeley, 
and  he  was  defeated  by  a  very  large  majority.  The  follow- 
ing table  gives  the  popular  vote : 


STATES. 

Grant, 
Rep. 

Greeley, 
Dem.  and  Lib. 
Rep. 

O'Conor, 
Dem. 

Total 
vote. 

Alabama 

90,272 

79  444 

169  716 

Arkansas  

41,373 

37,927 

79  300 

California  

54,020 

40,718 

1  068 

95806 

Connecticut. 

50638 

45880 

204 

96  928 

Delaware 

11  115 

10  206 

487 

21  808 

Florida.. 

17  763 

15  427 

33  190 

Georgia 

62  550 

76  356 

4  000 

142  906 

239 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


STATES. 

Grant, 
Rep. 

Greeley, 
Dem.  and  Lib. 
Rep. 

O'Conor, 
Dem. 

Total 
vote. 

Illinois  

241,944 
186,147 
131,566 
67,048 
88,766 
71,663 
61,422 
66,760 
133,472 
138,455 
55,117 
82,175 
119,  Ibti 
18,329 
8,413 
37,168 
91,656 
440,736 
94,769 
281,852 
11,819 
349,589 
13,665 
72,290 
85,655 
47,406 
41,481 
93,468 
32,315 
104,997 

184,938 

163,632 
71,196 
32,970 
99,995 
57,029 
29,087 
67,687 
59,260 
78,355 
34,423 
47,288 
151,434 
7,812 
6,236 
31,424 
76,456 
387,281 
70,094 
244,321 
7,730 
212,041 
5,329 
22,703 
94,391 
66,500 
10,927 
91,654 
29,451 
86,477 

3,058 
1,417 
2,221 
596 
2,374 

429,940 
351,196 
204,983 
100,614 
191,135 
128,692 
90,509 
134,466 
192,732 
220,942 
89,540 
129,463 
273,059 
26,141 
14,649 
68,892 
168,742 
829,672 
164,863 
529,436 
20,121 
563,260 
18,994 
95,180 
180,046 
116,405 
53,001 
185,164 
62,366 
192,308 

Indiana. 

Iowa     .       

Kansas  

Louisiana 

Maine  

19 

2,861 

Maryland. 

Massachusetts  . 

Michigan  

Minnesota  

Mississippi 

Missouri 

2,429 

100 
630 
1,454 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New  Hampshire.  .  . 

New  York  

North  Carolina  
Ohio 

1,163 
572 

187 

2,499 
593 
42 
600 
834 

Oregon 

South  Carolina  
Tennessee  

Texas 

Vermont        .  . 

Virginia        .       ... 

West  Virginia 

Wisconsin     

Total  

3,597,070 

2,834,079 

29,408 

6,466,165 

I  find  that  many  tables  of  the  popular  vote  are  discordant, 
and  I  have  accepted  the  table  prepared  by  Mr.  Stanwood  as 
he  presented  it.  The  Louisiana  dispute  arose  from  two  re- 
turning boards.  Governor  Warmouth,  who  was,  by  virtue 
of  his  office,  the  head  of  the  returning  board,  had  supported 
Greeley,  and  the  dispute  led  to  two  returning  boards,  each 
of  which  made  a  different  return  of  the  official  vote  of  the 
State,  one  giving  it  to  Greeley  and  the  other  to  Grant.  Mr. 
Greeley  died  soon  after  the  election  and  before  the  electoral 
colleges  met,  and  the  minority  electors,  who  had  been  chosen 
for  Greeley,  were  entirely  at  sea,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  fol- 
lowing table  of  the  electoral  vote  as  returned  to  Congress. 

240 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


There  were  many  quibbles  raised  in  the  joint  convention  of 
the  two  houses  in  counting  and  declaring  the  vote.  Mr. 
Hoar,  of  Massachusetts,  objected  to  the  Georgia  votes  cast 
for  Greeley  because  he  was  dead  at  the  time,  and  various 
other  technical  objections  were  made,  but  the  table  I  give 
shows  the  vote  as  it  was  accepted : 


STATES. 

PRESIDENT. 

VICE-PRESIDENT. 

Ulysses  S.  Grant,  111. 

Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  Ind. 

B.  Gratz  Brown,  Mo. 

Horace  Greeley,  N.  Y. 

Charles  J.  Jenkins,  Ga. 

oT 
'> 

05 

Q 
•c 

1 

Henry  Wilson,  Mass. 

B.  Gratz  Brown,  Mo. 

rr 
C 
1—  I 

c" 

r, 

~z 
•—  » 

£ 

1 

•J 

Alfred  H.  Colquitt,  Ga. 

John  M.  Palmer,  111. 

Thomas  E.  Bramlette,  Ky. 

Nathaniel  P.  Banks,  Mass. 

William  S.  Groesbeck,  O. 

WillisB.  Machen,  Ky. 

10 
6* 
6 
6 
3 
4 

21 
15 
11 
5 

~8* 

10 

6* 

1 

- 

3 

- 

a 

3* 

•J 

— 

21 

5 

— 

5 

- 

- 

1 

— 

- 

5 

Kentucky   

B 

4 

- 

- 

- 

c* 

8 

- 

- 

- 

3 

- 

- 

t 

ft* 

7 

13 

11 
5 
8 

3 
3 
5 
9 
35 
10 
22 
3 
29 
4 
7 

5 
11 
5 
10 

286 

7 

s 

g 

13 

Missouri           

1 

8 

— 

- 

1 

3 

6 

5 

- 

3 

- 

- 

- 

- 

New  Hampshire  

g 

M*»w  V  nrk 

35 

North  Carolina  

Ohio 

10 

22 

3 

29 

Rhode  Island  

1 

12 
1 

12 

5 

10 

Total  (as  declared).  .  . 

a 

18 

— 

1 

1 

286 

47 

5 

5 

3 

3 

1 

1 

1 

Rejected  by  Congress. 
241 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

From  the  time  that  Greeley  was  nominated  in  May,  until 
probably  a  month  after  the  meeting  of  the  Democratic  con- 
vention in  July,  everything  pointed  to  his  triumphant  elec- 
tion. Leading  men  of  the  party  were  daily  announcing 
themselves  as  his  supporters,  and  a  tidal  wave  that  would 
sweep  Greeley  into  the  Presidency  seemed  certain.  But  in 
August  the  great  business  interests  of  the  country,  then 
rocked  in  the  tempest  of  inflation  created  by  the  war,  became 
appalled  at  the  prospect  of  the  election  of  Greeley,  whose 
financial  and  business  policy  would  be  but  an  experiment. 
All  knew  that  the  business  of  the  country  was  dangerously 
inflated,  and  that  disaster  must  come  sooner  or  later,  but 
they  felt  that  it  would  be  delayed  by  the  re-election  of  Grant, 
and  in  the  brief  period  of  one  month  the  Greeley  tide  began 
its  ebb,  which  doomed  him  to  a  most  humiliating  defeat. 
Had  David  Davis  been  the  candidate  there  would  have  been 
no  such  apprehension  in  business  and  monetary  circles,  and 
I  have  never  doubted  that  he  would  have  been  elected  as  the 
logical  successor  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Although  I  had  opposed  the  nomination  of  Greeley,  he 
well  understood  that  it  was  solely  because  I  felt  that  I  was 
thus  a  better  friend  to  him  than  he  was  to  himself,  and  I 
devoted  my  time  to  tireless  effort  to  give  him  success.  Out- 
side his  editorial  duties,  in  which  he  was  a  master  of  masters, 
he  was  as  guileless  and  unsophisticated  as  a  child,  and  even 
his  closest  friends  trembled  when  they  regarded  his  election 
to  the  Presidency  as  more  than  probable.  About  the  1st  of 
August,  before  the  revulsion  had  become  visible,  I  was  sent 
for  by  Waldo  Hutchings  to  meet  the  friends  of  Greeley  in 
conference  at  the  Astor  House.  Among  those  present  were 
Mr.  Hutchings,  Whitelaw  Reid,  ex-Congressman  Cochran, 
and  several  others,  and  they  informed  me  that  I  had  been 
sent  for  to  call  upon  Greeley  and  earnestly  admonish  him 
against  making  any  pledges  or  promises  whatever,  before 
the  election,  as  to  his  Cabinet  appointments.  They  said  that 
if  elected  President  his  safety  would  be  in  having  about  him 
an  able,  faithful  and  discreet  Cabinet,  and  they  feared  that 
in  the  kindness  of  his  heart  he  would  become  complicated 
with  those  who  sought  to  importune  him  for  preferment.  In 
order  to  keep  him  from  visitors  he  was  then  hidden  away  in 
a  private  upstairs  room  in  Brooklyn,  where  I  was  directed  to 
call  on  my  mission. 

I  never  saw  a  happier  face  than  that  of  Greeley  when  I 

242 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

met  him,  as  he  was  then  entirely  confident  of  success,  and  in 
a  very  kind  and  facetious  way  he  reminded  me  that  I  had 
underestimated  his  strength  with  the  people.  When  oppor- 
tunity came  in  the  conversation  I  suggested  to  him  that  a 
man  who  was  elected  President  by  a  combination  of  op- 
posing political  interests  would  have  very  grave  and  com- 
plicated duties  to  perform,  and  that  he  should  especially 
avoid  any  Cabinet  complications.  With  the  simplicity  and 
confidence  of  a  child  his  answer  was :  "  Don't  misunderstand 
me;  you  ought  to  know  that  I  would  appoint  no  Cabinet 
officer  from  your  section  without  your  approval."  He  was 
surprised  to  find  that  I  was  not  there  to  obtain  promises,  but 
to  warn  him  against  the  peril  of  saying  to  others  just  what 
he  had  said  to  me,  and  after  reviewing  the  conditions  he 
agreed  that  his  only  safety  was  in  avoiding  all  obligations 
relating  to  appointments  until  the  duty  confronted  him. 

He  asked  me  to  go  to  North  Carolina  and  give  a  week  to 
the  campaign  in  that  State,  and  to  that  I  agreed,  although  I 
was  in  charge  of  the  Pennsylvania  battle.  That  was  the  last 
time  that  I  saw  Horace  Greeley.  After  the  disastrous  elec- 
tions of  October,  which  clearly  foreshadowed  his  defeat,  he 
made  New  England  and  Western  tours,  and  delivered 
speeches  which  well  compare  with  the  grandest  utterances  of 
our  best  statesmanship.  But  the  tide  against  him  was  resist- 
less, and  while  nursing  a  dying  wife  and  worn  out  by  his 
ceaseless  offices  of  affection,  the  blow  came  that  clouded  one 
of  the  noblest,  purest,  and  ablest  of  the  great  men  of  the 
land. 

On  the  last  day  that  he  put  pen  to  paper  he  wrote  me  a 
brief  letter  saying  that  he  was  4<  a  man  of  many  sorrows," 
but  that  he  "  could  not  forget  the  gallant  though  luckless 
struggle  "  I  had  made  in  his  behalf.  Broken  in  health,  be- 
reaved in  his  affections,  and  disappointed  in  his  greatest  am- 
bition, his  reason  toppled  from  its  throne  and  he  died  an  in- 
mate of  an  asylum.  The  two  chieftains  of  the  political  con- 
test of  1872  were  brought  together  soon  after  the  victor  and 
vanquished  were  declared,  as  President  Grant  stood  at  the 
tomb  of  Horace  Greeley  to  pay  the  last  tribute  of  himself  and 
the  nation  to  the  fallen  philanthropist. 


THE  HAYES-TILDEN  CONTEST 

1876 

THE  Presidential  contest  of  1876  brought  into  the  national 
political  arena  the  strongest  personality  developed  by  the 
Republican  party,  with  the  single  exception  of  Abraham 
Lincoln.  James  G.  Elaine  was  admittedly  the  Henry  Clay 
of  the  Republican  party,  and  both  were  equally  idolized  and 
equally  fated.  The  Republican  party  had  men  of  profounder 
intellect  than  Elaine,  but  no  one  who  so  completed  the  circle 
of  all  the  qualities  of  a  popular  leader,  including  masterly 
ability  as  a  disputant.  Like  Clay,  he  was  idolized  by  his 
friends  and  most  bitterly  defamed  by  his  foes,  and  both 
were  twice  defeated  by  their  party  for  Presidential  nomina- 
tions when  the  party  was  successful,  and  both  nominated 
only  to  suffer  defeat. 

With  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  public  men  of  the  last 
half  century,  I  regard  Elaine  as  the  most  magnetic  man 
I  have  ever  met.  His  greeting  to  friend  and  stranger  was 
always  generous  without  gush,  and  at  once  brought  all  who 
had  any  communication  with  him  into  apparently  the  closest 
relations.  He  remembered  names  of  the  humblest  and  most 
distant  of  his  acquaintances;  always  knew  something  of 
their  communities  and  their  interests.  It  was  not  the  art 
of  a  demagogue,  but  the  natural  impulse  of  a  big-hearted, 
big-brained  enthusiast,  and  Elaine  was  an  enthusiast  in 
everything  that  enlisted  his  interest.  When,  in  addition  to 
these  charming  personal  qualities,  he  possessed  every  attri- 
bute of  a  great  popular  orator,  it  is  not  difficult  to  under- 
stand why  Elaine  became  the  favorite  of  the  people.  Like 
all  who  have  reached  any  measure  of  distinction  in  that 
line,  he  had  bitter  and  malignant  foes,  and  he  could  well 
have  said  of  himself,  as  Clay  once  did  when  overcome  by 
an  exhibition  of  the  generosity  of  his  friends,  who  had  paid 
a  note  that  greatly  embarrassed  him :  "  Never  had  man 
such  friends  and  such  enemies  as  Henry  Clay."  The  chief 
difference  between  Clay  and  Elaine  was.  in  the  fact  that  the 

244 


KUTHBRFORD    B.    HAYES 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

masses  did  not  know  Clay  from  personal  contact,  while 
the  masses  well  knew  Elaine,  and  saw  him  as  he  was  in 
his  every-day  life  as  well  as  in  his  great  achievements  in 
politics  and  statesmanship.  In  another  respect  Elaine 
differed  widely  from  Clay.  Elaine  was  a  fatalist,  and  from 
1876,  when  he  was  first  defeated  for  the  Republican  nomi- 
nation for  President  in  Cincinnati,  until  his  name  was  last 
presented  to  the  Republican  National  Convention  in  1892, 
he  was  oppressed,  profoundly  oppressed,  with  the  belief 
that  he  never  could  be  President;  while  Clay  hoped  to 
realize  the  great  dream  of  his  life,  and  confidently  expected 
his  election  to  the  Presidency  until  his  final  defeat  in  the 
Philadelphia  convention  of  1848. 

I  saw  Elaine  soon  after  the  Cincinnati  convention  of  1876, 
and  talked  with  him  for  an  hour  alone  at  the  Continental 
Hotel,  and  I  well  remember  the  sad  expression  of  his  strong 
face  when  he  said :  "  I  am  the  Henry  Clay  of  the  Republican 
party ;  I  can  never  be  President."  He  was  standing  by  a 
window  looking  out  upon  the  street,  with  his  arm  over  my 
shoulder,  and  he  spoke  of  his  hopes  and  fears  with  a  subdued 
eloquence  that  was  painfully  impressive.  He  was  again 
defeated  for  nomination  in  1880,  thus  suffering  two  defeats 
when  the  candidates  chosen  by  the  convention  were  elected. 
He  was  nominated  in  1884  and  defeated,  thus  completing 
the  circle  of  the  sad  history  of  Clay  and  the  Whig  party. 

Clay  was  defeated  in  the  Harrisburg  convention  of  Decem- 
ber, 1839,  by  Harrison,  who  was  elected ;  he  was  nominated 
by  the  Baltimore  convention  in  1844,  and  defeated  by  Polk; 
and  in  1848  he  was  again  defeated  for  the  nomination  in 
the  Philadelphia  convention  by  Taylor,  who  was  elected. 
Thus  both  Clay  and  Elaine  were  twice  defeated  in  their 
respective  party  conventions  when  their  successful  competi- 
tors were  elected,  and  both  nominated  when  their  parties 
suffered  defeats.  Soon  after  Elaine's  nomination,  in  1884, 
I  sent  a  brilliant  staff  correspondent  of  my  paper,  who  had 
intimate  personal  relations  with  Elaine,  to  stay  with  him 
at  Augusta  for  several  weeks.  One  pleasant  afternoon  they 
walked  along  the  banks  of  the  Kennebec  River,  when  Elaine 
insensibly  diverted  the  conversation  into  a  soliloquy.  He 
said :  "  Clay  was  defeated  in  two  conventions  when  he  could 
have  been  elected  President,  and  he  was  nominated  for 
President  when  his  competitor  was  elected,  and  that  com- 
petitor was  one  who  had  not  been  publicly  discussed  as 

245 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

a  Presidential  candidate  before  the  meeting  of  the  Baltimore 
convention  of  1844.  I  was  defeated  in  two  conventions 
when  I  could  have  been  elected.  I  am  nominated  now  with 
a  competitor  alike  obscure  with  the  competitor  of  Clay." 
He  then  brought  the  soliloquy  to  a  climax  by  holding  up 
his  hand  and  repeating  what  he  seemed  to  regard  as  talis- 
manic  figures,  "1844-1884."  Clay  was  defeated  in  1844,  and 
Blaine  was  impressed  with  the  belief  that  he  would  suffer 
defeat  in  1884. 

The  prospect  for  Republican  success  was  not  flattering 
at  the  opening  of  the  campaign  of  1876.  The  Grant  adminis- 
tration was  severely  criticised  and  the  party  greatly  weak- 
ened by  the  scandals  of  the  Whiskey  Ring,  the  impeachment 
of  Secretary  Belknap,  and  by  the  general  business  depression 
that  began  in  1873.  The  Democrats  had  carried  a  large 
majority  in  the  popular  branch  of  Congress  in  1874,  and 
the  Republicans  were  so  seriously  alarmed  at  the  prospect 
of  losing  the  election  of  1876  that  Senator  Oliver  P.  Morton, 
the  ablest  of  the  Republican  leaders,  made  an  earnest  effort 
to  procure  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  providing  for 
the  election  of  Presidents  by  popular  vote,  but  the  scheme 
failed.  There  was  also  some  disturbance  in  the  Republican 
party,  caused  by  the  evident  desire  of  General  Grant  to 
secure  a  third  term.  He  had  written  a  letter  to  General 
Harry  White,  of  Pennsylvania,  that  was  very  unlike  Grant, 
whose  habit  was  to  express  his  convictions  clearly  and 
tersely,  but  in  this  letter  he  elaborately  discussed  the  question 
of  a  third  term,  without  distinctly  declaring  whether  he 
would  or  would  not  accept  it. 

There  was  but  one  conclusion  that  could  be  drawn  from 
the  letter,  and  that  was  that  Grant  was  more  than  willing 
to  have  a  third  nomination  tendered  to  him.  The  State 
convention  of  Pennsylvania,  over  which  General  White 
presided,  had  declared  with  emphasis  "  opposition  to  the 
election  to  the  Presidency  of  any  person  for  a  third  term." 
General  White  expected  a  letter  from  President  Grant  in 
accord  with  that  expression,  but  the  nearest  that  Grant  came 
to  a  declination  was  in  the  single  sentence  of  the  letter, 
speaking  of  the  third  term,  he  said :  "  I  do  not  want  it  any 
more  than  I  did  the  first,"  to  which  he  added  the  suggestion 
that  the  Constitution  put  no  restriction  upon  the  period 
a  President  might  serve. 

Another  pointed  admonition  to  Grant  not  to  press  his 

246 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

candidacy  was  given  by  the  adoption  of  a  resolution  in  the 
House,  declaring  that  the  established  precedent  of  Wash- 
ington, who  retired  from  the  Presidency  after  the  second 
term,  had  become  "  a  part  of  our  Republican  system  of 
government,  and  that  any  departure  from  this  time-honored 
custom  would  be  unwise,  unpatriotic,  and  fraught  with  peril 
to  our  free  institutions."  This  resolution  passed  by  234  to 
1 8,  and  was  supported  not  only  by  all  the  Democrats,  but 
of  the  88  Republicans  voting,  70  voted  for  it.  One  of  the 
peculiar  features  of  the  contest  for  the  Republican  nomina- 
tion was  presented  in  the  candidacy  of  Benjamin  H.  Bristow, 
then  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  who  was  not  in  harmony 
with  the  President,  and  yet  refused  to  resign.  He  was  the 
candidate  of  the  most  violent  anti-Grant  element. 

The  Republican  convention  met  at  Cincinnati  on  the  I4th 
of  June,  and  it  was  one  of  the  most  earnest  and  stubborn 
contests  I  have  ever  witnessecp"  Elaine  had  a  clear  majority 
of  the  delegates  in  the  convention,  and  certainly  would  have 
been  nominated  with  anything  like  fair  play.  On  the  Sunday 
morning  immediately  before  the  meeting  of  the  convention, 
and  when  all  the  delegates  and  the  outside  political  hustlers 
were  earnestly  at  work  in  Cincinnati,  a  dispatch  came  from 
Washington  that  fell  like  a  thunderbolt  from  an  unclouded 
sky  upon  Elaine's  friends.  He  had  fallen  at  the  church 
door  when  about  to  enter  for  service,  and  was  unconscious 
for  some  time,  and  the  opponents  of  Elaine  made  the  most 
of  the  misfortune. 

The  first  reports  of  his  illness  were. greatly  exaggerated, 
and  his  friends  at  the  convention  were  much  disconcerted 
and  discouraged,  but  when  on  Monday  morning  he  tele- 
graphed them  himself  that  his  illness  was  not  serious,  all 
were  again  thoroughly  united  to  force  his  nomination.  The 
friends  of  Elaine  had  a  majority  of  the  convention.  There 
was  not  an  hour  during  the  sessions  of  that  body  that  a 
majority  of  the  delegates  did  not  desire  to  nominate  him 
for  President,  but  many  were  held  by  instructions  or  other 
complications,  as  was  the  entire  Pennsylvania  delegation, 
made  up  almost  wholly  of  Elaine  men,  but  instructed  for 
Governor  Hartranft.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  he  received 
the  votes  of  a  majority  of  all  the  delegates  in  the  convention, 
but  not  on  any  one  ballot,  and  never  was  the  wish  of  a 
nominating  body  so  artfully  misled  from  its  intent. 

The  speech  of  Ingersoll  nominating  Blaine  was  the  most 

247 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

powerful  and  impressive  I  ever  heard  before  a  deliberative 
body,  and  had  a  ballot  been  reached  on  that  day  no  combina- 
tion could  have  prevented  Elaine's  success.  The  struggle 
was  desperate  for  delay,  and  the  opponents  of  Elaine,  fearing 
that  the  session  might  be  extended  into  the  evening,  and 
thus  reach  a  ballot  without  adjournment,  had  the  gas  clan- 
destinely cut  off  from  the  building,  and  an  adjournment  was 
enforced  by  darkness.  The  enemies  of  Elaine  were  very 
powerful.  President  Grant  was  one  of  the  most  aggressive 
and  vindictive,  and  ex-Senator  Cameron,  who  was  then 
Secretary  of  War,  was  chairman  of  the  Pennsylvania  delega- 
tion, and  pitiless  and  tireless  in  his  opposition  to  Elaine. 

At  nearly  midnight,  before  the  second  day  of  the  conven- 
tion, Cameron  had  decided  that  he  must  give  up  the  battle 
against  Elaine  and  assent  to  his  nomination,  as  his  delegation 
had  become  very  refractory,  and  all  knew  that  Elaine  could 
be  nominated  whenever  all  who  desired  his  nomination  were 
free  to  vote  for  him.  His  defeat  was  planned  in  and  executed 
from  Cameron's  room,  who  had  his  trusted  lieutenants  about 
him,  including  the  late  Robert  W.  Mackey,  who  was  the 
most  accomplished  and  practical  politician  of  his  day  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  the  late  William  H.  Kemble.  It  was 
decided  to  propose  to  the  Pennsylvania  delegation  that  as 
they  were  instructed  for  Hartranft,  and  to  vote  as  a  unit, 
they  should  do  so  only  while  Hartranft's  vote  increased,  and 
that  whenever  he  dropped  in  the  race  the  delegation  should 
then  vote  as  a  unit  as  the  majority  directed.  This  was 
enthusiastically  accepted  by  the  friends  of  Elaine,  as  they 
believed  that  Hartranft's  strength  would  soon  be  exhausted, 
and  that  then  they  would  get  a  solid  vote  for  Elaine ;  but 
Mackey  and  Kemble,  who  understood  how  to  manage 
politicians  of  every  grade,  including  the  carpet-baggers  and 
colored  political  speculators  from  the  South,  arranged  with 
a  number  of  delegations,  chiefly  in  the  Southern  States,  to 
have  Hartranft's  vote  increased  slightly  on  every  ballot. 

Instead  of  starting  Hartranft  with  an  exhibition  of  his  full 
strength,  part  of  it  was  held  back,  and,  to  the  consternation 
of  the  Elaine  men  from  this  State,  Hartranft's  vote  was 
maintained  until  the  climax  carne  in  the  landslide  to  Gov- 
ernor Hayes,  of  Ohio,  as  a  compromise  candidate.  But  for 
Secretary  Cameron  and  State  Treasurer  Mackey  and  ex- 
State  Treasurer  Kemble,  Elaine's  nomination  would  have 
been  absolutely  certain  at  the  Cincinnati  convention  in  1876. 

248 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


The  convention  had  as  permanent  president  Edward  Mc- 
Pherson,  of  Pennsylvania,  who  was  a  devoted  friend  of 
Blaine,  but  whose  delegation,  under  the  manipulation  of 
Chairman  Cameron,  was  held  from  Blaine  until  it  was  too 
late  to  be  of  service  to  him.  Conkling,  of  New  York,  who 
had  the  unanimous  support  of  his  State,  was  the  favorite 
candidate  of  the  administration,  but  from  Elaine's  opponents 
was  heard  on  every  side  the  slogan  "  anybody  to  beat 
Blaine."  It  was  not  until  the  third  day  that  a  ballot  was 
reached,  and  on  the  7th  a  stampede  was  made  to  Governor 
Hayes,  of  Ohio,  and  he  was  unanimously  declared  the  nomi- 
nee of  the  party.  The  following  table  exhibits  the  ballots 
in  detail: 


$ 

!_ 
£ 

Second. 

Third. 

Fourth. 

1 

E 

rfS 
X 
OT 

Seventh. 

Blaine... 

285 

296 

293 

292 

286 

308 

351 

Morton..  .           

125 

120 

113 

108 

95 

85 

Bristow 

113 

114 

121 

126 

114 

111 

21 

Conkling. 

99 

93 

90 

84 

82 

81 

Hayes.. 

61 

64 

67 

68 

104 

113 

384 

Hartranft  .. 

58 

63 

68 

71 

69 

50 

Jewell  

11 



Scattering  

3 

4 

3 

5 

5 

5 

— 

William  A.  Wheeler,  of  New  York,  was  nominated  for 
Vice-President  without  a  formal  ballot,  as  soon  after  the  bal- 
loting began  the  several  other  candidates  were  withdrawn, 
and  he  was  nominated  by  acclamation.  The  following  plat- 
form was  unanimously  adopted : 

When,  in  the  economy  of  Providence,  this  land  was  to  be  purged 
of  human  slavery,  and  when  the  strength  of  government  of  the 
people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people,  was  to  be  demonstrated, 
the  Republican  party  came  into  power.  Its  deeds  have  passed  into 
history,  and  we  look  back  to  them  with  pride.  Incited  by  their 
memories  to  high  aims  for  the  good  of  our  country  and  mankind, 
and  looking  to  the  future  with  unfaltering  courage,  hope,  and  pur- 
pose, we,  the  representatives  of  the  party  in  national  convention 
assembled,  make  the  following  declaration  of  principles : 

1.  The  United  States  of  America  is  a  nation,  not  a  league.     By 
the  combined  workings  of  the  national  and  State  governments,  un- 
der their  respective  Constitutions,   the   rights  of  every  citizen   are 
secured,  at  home  and  abroad,  and  the  common  welfare  promoted. 

2.  The  Republican  party  has  preserved  these  governments  to  the 

249 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

hundredth  anniversary  of  the  nation's  birth,  and  they  are  now  em- 
bodiments of  the  great  truths  spoken  at  its  cradle,  *'  That  all  men 
are  created  equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  cer- 
tain unalienable  rights,  among  which  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pur- 
suit of  happiness;  that  for  the  attainment  of  these  ends  govern- 
ments have  been  instituted  among  men,  deriving  their  just  powers 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed."  Until  these  truths  are  cheer- 
fully obeyed,  or,  if  need  be,  vigorously  enforced,  the  work  of  the 
Republican  party  is  unfinished. 

3.  The    permanent  pacification  of    the    Southern    section  of    the 
Union,  and  the  complete  protection  of  all  its  citizens  in  the  free  en- 
joyment of  all  their  rights,  is  a  duty  to  which  the  Republican  party 
stands  sacredly  pledged.     The  power  to  provide  for  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  principles  embodied  by  the  recent  constitutional  amend- 
ments is  vested  by  those  amendments  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  and  we  declare  it  to  be  the  solemn  obligation  of  the  legislative 
and  executive  departments  of  the   Government  to  put  into   imme- 
diate and  vigorous  exercise  all  their  constitutional  powers  for  re- 
moving any  just  causes  of  discontent  on  the  part  of  any  class,  and 
for  securing  to  every  American  citizen  complete  liberty  and  exact 
equality  in  the  exercise  of  all  civil,  political,  and  public  rights.     To 
this  end  we  imperatively  demand  a  Congress  and  a  Chief  Executive 
whose  courage  and  fidelity  to  these  duties  shall  not  falter  until  these 
results  are  placed  beyond  dispute  or  recall. 

4.  In  the  first    act  of    Congress    signed    by  President  Grant,  the 
National  Government  assumed  to  remove  any  doubts  of  its  purpose 
to   discharge   all   just  obligations  to  the  public  creditors,  and  "  sol- 
emnly pledged  its  faith  to  make  provision,  at  the  earliest  practicable 
period,  for  the    redemption  of    the  United    States  notes  in  coin." 
Commercial  prosperity,  public  morals,  and  national  credit  demand 
that  this  promise  be  fulfilled  by  a  continuous  and  steady  progress 
to  specie  payment. 

5.  Under    the  Constitution    the    President  and  heads  of    depart- 
ments are  to  make  nominations  for  office ;  the  Senate  is  to  advise 
and  consent  to  appointments,  and  the  House  of  Representatives  is 
to  accuse  and  prosecute  faithless  officers.     The  best  interest  of  the 
public  service  demands  that  these   distinctions  be  respected;   that 
Senators  and  Representatives,  who  may  be    judges    and    accusers, 
should  not  dictate  appointments  to  office.     The    invariable    rule    in 
appointments    should    have    reference    to    the  honesty,  fidelity,  and 
capacity  of  the  appointees,  giving  to  the  party  in  power  those  places 
where  harmony  and  vigor  of  administration  require  its  policy  to  be 
represented,  but  permitting  all  others  to  be  filled  by  persons  selected 
with  sole  reference  to  the  efficiency  of  the  public  service,  and  the 
right  of  all  citizens  to  share  in  the  honor  of  rendering  faithful  ser- 
vice to  the  country. 

6.  We  rejoice  in  the  quickened  conscience  of  the  people  concern- 
ing political  affairs,  and  will  hold  all  public  officers  to  a  rigid  respon- 
sibility, and  engage  that  the  prosecution  and  punishment  of  all  who 
betray  official  trusts  shall  be  swift,  thorough,  and  unsparing. 

7.  The  public-school    system  of    the    several  States  is  a  bulwark 
of  the  American  Republic,  and,  with  a  view  to  its  security  and  per- 
manence, we  recommend  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  forbidding  the    application  of    any  public  funds  or 

250 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

property  for  the  benefit  of  any  schools  or  institutions  under  sectarian 
control. 

8.  The  revenue  necessary  for  current  expenditures  and  the  obli- 
gations of  the  public  debt  must  be  largely  derived  from  duties  upon 
importations,  which,  so  far  as  possible,  should  be  adjusted  to  pro- 
mote the  interests  of  American  labor  and  advance  the  prosperity  of 
the  whole  country. 

9.  We  reaffirm  our  opposition  to  further  grants  of  the  public  land 
to  corporations    and    monopolies,  and    demand    that    the    national 
domain  be  devoted  to  free  homes  for  the  people. 

10.  It  is  the  imperative  duty  of  the  Government  so  to  modify  exist- 
ing treaties  with  European  governments,  that  the  same  protection 
shall  be  afforded  to  the  adopted  American  citizen  that  is  given  to  the 
native-born ;  and  that  all  necessary  laws  should  be  passed  to  protect 
emigrants,  in  the  absence  of  power  in  the  States  for  that  purpose. 

11.  It  is  the  immediate  duty  of  Congress  fully  to  investigate  the 
effect  of  immigration  and  importation  of  Mongolians  upon  the  moral 
and  material  interests  of  the  country. 

12.  The  Republican  party  recognizes  with  its  approval  the  sub- 
stantial advances  recently  made  toward  the  establishment  of  equal 
rights  for  women  by  the  many  important  amendments  effected  by 
Republican  Legislatures  in  the  laws  which  concern  the  personal  and 
property  relations  of  wives,  mothers,  and  widows,  and  by  the  ap- 
pointment and  election  of  women  to  the  superintendence  of  educa- 
tion, charities,  and  other  public  trusts.    The  honest  demands  of  this 
class  of    citizens  for  additional    rights,  privileges,  and    immunities 
should  be  treated  with  respectful  consideration. 

13.  The  Constitution  confers  upon  Congress  sovereign  power  over 
the  Territories  of  the  United  States  for  their  government,  and  in 
the  exercise  of  this  power  it  is  the  right  and  duty  of  Congress  to 
prohibit  and  extirpate,  in  the  Territories,  that  relic  of  barbarism — 
polygamy ;  and  we  demand  such  legislation  as  shall  secure  this  end 
and  the  supremacy  of  American  institutions  in  all  the  Territories. 

14.  The  pledges  which  the    nation  has    given    to  her  soldiers  and 
sailors  must  be  fulfilled,  and  a  grateful  people  will  always  hold  those 
who  imperilled  their  lives  for  the  country's  preservation  in  the  kind- 
est remembrance. 

15.  We  sincerely  deprecate  all  sectional  feeling    and    tendencies. 
We  therefore  note  with  deep  solicitude  that    the    Democratic  party 
counts,  as  its  chief  hope  of  success,  upon  the  electoral  vote  of  a 
united  South,  secured  through  the  efforts  of  those  who  were  recently 
arrayed  against  the  nation ;  and  we  invoke  the  earnest  attention  of 
the  country  to  the  grave  truth  that  a  success  thus  achieved  would 
reopen  sectional  strife  and  imperil  national  honor  and  human  rights. 

16.  We  charge  the  Democratic  party  with  being  the  same  in  char- 
acter and  spirit  as  when  it  sympathized  with  treason ;  with  making 
its  control  of  the  House  of  Representatives  the  triumph  and  opportu- 
nity of  the  nation's  recent  foes ;  with  reasserting  and  applauding  in 
the  national  Capitol  the  sentiments  of  unrepentant  rebellion ;  with 
sending  Union    soldiers  to    the    rear,  and    promoting    Confederate 
soldiers  to  the  front;   with  deliberately  proposing  to  repudiate  the 
plighted  faith  of  the  Government;  with  being  equally  false  and  imbe- 
cile upon  the  overshadowing  financial  questions;  with  thwarting  the 
ends  of  justice  by  its  partisan  mismanagement  and  obstruction  of 

251 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

investigation;  with  proving  itself,  through  the  period  of  its  ascend- 
ancy in  the  lower  house  of  Congress,  utterly  incompetent  to  admin- 
ister the  Government;  and  we  warn  the  country  against  trusting  a 
party  thus  alike  unworthy,  recreant,  and  incapable. 

17.  The  national  administration  merits  commendation  for  its  honor- 
able work  in  the  management  of  domestic  and  foreign  affairs,  and 
President    Grant    deserves    the    continued    hearty  gratitude  of    the 
American  people  for  his  patriotism  and  his  eminent  services,  in  war 
and  in  peace. 

18.  We  present  as  our  candidates  for  President  and  Vice-Presi- 
dent  of  the  United  States  two  distinguished  statesmen,  of  eminent 
ability  and  character,  and  conspicuously  fitted  for  those  high  offices, 
and  we  confidently  appeal  to  the  American  people  to  intrust  the 
administration  of  their  public  affairs  to  Rutherford  B.  Hayes  and 
William  A.  Wheeler. 

The  friends  of  Blaine  were  grievously  disappointed  at  the 
action  of  the  Cincinnati  convention,  but  Blaine  promptly 
came  to  the  front  ip  his  heroic  way,  and  made  a  tireless  bat- 
tle for  the  success  of  the  ticket. 

iXne  Democratic  convention  met  at  St.  Louis  on  the  28th 
of  JujoeTj  Henry  Watterson,  of  Kentucky,  was  temporary 
chairman,  and  was  succeeded  by  General  John  A.  McCler- 
nand,  of  Illinois,  as  permanent  presiding  officer.  This  was  the 
first  convention  to  cross  the  Father  of  Waters,  and  it  was  a 
thoroughly  organized  Tilden  convention  before  it  met.  Til- 
den  was  the  ablest  political  manager  in  the  Democratic  party 
of  that  day.  He  was  tireless,  methodical,  and  sagacious, 
and  he  made  his  nomination  over  Hancock  and  Hendricks 
by  early  and  complete  organization  of  his  friends  in  all  the 
debatable  States.  He  had  won  national  reputation  by  his 
courage  in  bringing  Tweed  to  justice,  and  he  was  regarded 
by  the  country  generally  as  well  equipped  for  the  high  duties 
of  Chief  Magistrate.  The  friends  of  Hendricks  made  a  des- 
perate battle  for  him,  but  they  were  outclassed  in  leadership, 
and  it  was  a  Tilden  convention  when  the  body  convened, 
with  very  able  men  to  hold  it  in  subjection. 

The  Tilden  forces  required  little  leadership  at  St.  Louis, 
as  his  nomination  had  been  thoroughly  accomplished  before 
the  convention  met.  Tilden  exhausted  his  wonderful  pow- 
ers of  organization  in  getting  control  of  the  delegations  of 
doubtful  States,  and  looked  minutely  to  the  men  who  should 
be  chosen  as  delegates,  and  when  the  convention  met  there 
was  no  boisterous  jostling  between  the  opposing  forces,  as 
the  majority  was  complete  in  its  organization  and  ixioved 
with  directness  to  the  accomplishment  of  its  purpose. 

253 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


William  L.  Scott,  of  Erie,  Perm.,  who  was  twice  elected  to 
Congress  in  an  overwhelmingly  Republican  district,  was  the 
accepted  leader  of  the  Tilden  people.  He  was  personally 
popular,  self-poised,  sagacious,  and  discreet,  and  all  he  had 
to  do  was  to  keep  his  solid  lines  unbroken. 

The  minority  was  dumbfounded  at  the  development  of  the 
Tilden  strength,  but  the  Hendricks  people,  led  by  McDonald, 
of  Indiana — afterward  United  States  Senator — and  most 
zealously  and  aggressively  aided  by  the  helpless  Tammany 
minority  in  the  New  York  delegation,  fought  heroically  at 
every  step ;  but  with  Scott  to  manage  and  Harry  Watterson 
to  inspire  the  Tilden  people,  they  maintained  their  mastery 
from  start  to  finish,  and  Tilden  was  declared  the  nominee. 
When  the  nomination  was  announced  the  convention  pre- 
sented a  singular  spectacle.  The  Tilden  delegates  were  at 
once  upon  their  feet  cheering  lustily  and  waving  their  hand- 
kerchiefs, and  one  after  another  of  the  minority  delegations 
rose  and  joined  in  the  huzzas  for  the  declared  candidate, 
but  the  Indiana  delegates  sat  stubbornly  in  their  seats,  pre- 
senting the  appearance  of  a  small  cleared  patch  in  a  forest. 
The  convention  waited  some  minutes  for  the  Indiana  men  to 
rise,  but  they  kept  their  seats.  The  next  day  Hendricks  was 
made  the  candidate  for  Vice-President  in  spite  of  the  pro- 
tests of  his  delegation  and  his  friends,  and  finally  the  conven- 
tion joined  in  united  cheers  for  the  ticket. 

Much  bitterness  was  developed  during  the  struggle  be- 
tween the  opposing  clans,  and  a  duel  between  General  Mor- 
gan, a  fighting  Democratic  soldier  of  Ohio,  and  Colonel 
Breckenridge,  of  Kentucky,  was  only  averted,  when  the  con- 
vention adjourned,  by  Colonel  Watterson  hurrying  Brecken- 
ridge off  to  dinner,  and  compelling  him  to  make  concessions 
which  properly  satisfied  the  Ohio  warrior. 

It  required  only  two  ballots  to  give  Tilden  the  nomination, 
as  follows : 


CANDIDATES. 

First. 

Second. 

Samuel  J.  Tilden,  N.Y  

417 

535 

Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  Ind.                      ... 

140 

60 

Winfield  S.  Hancock,  Penn  

75 

59 

William  Allen,  Ohio  

56 

54 

Thomas  F.  Bayard,  Del  

33 

11 

Joel  Parker,  N.  J 

18 

18 

Allen  G.  Thurman,  Ohio  . 

7 

Whole  number  of  votes,  744. 


Necessary  to  a  choice,  496. 


253 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

The  platform  was  prepared  under  Tilden's  own  direction, 
and  it  was  unanimously  adopted  as  follows : 

We,  the  delegates  of  the  Democratic  party  of  the  United  States, 
in  national  convention  assembled,  do  hereby  declare  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  Federal  Government  to  be  in  urgent  need  of  im- 
mediate reform;  do  hereby  enjoin  upon  the  nominees  of  this  con- 
vention, and  of  the  Democratic  party  in  each  State,  a  zealous  effort 
and  co-operation  to  this  end;  and  do  hereby  appeal  to  our  fellow- 
citizens  of  every  former  political  connection  to  undertake  with  us 
this  first  and  most  pressing  patriotic  duty. 

For  the  Democracy  of  the  whole  country,  we  do  here  reaffirm 
our  faith  in  the  permanence  of  the  Federal  Union,  our  devotion  to 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  with  its  amendments  uni- 
versally accepted  as  a  final  settlement  of  the  controversies  that  en- 
gendered civil  war,  and  do  here  record  our  steadfast  confidence  in 
the  perpetuity  of  Republican  self-government. 

In  absolute  acquiescence  in  the  will  of  the  majority — the  vital 
principle  of  republics ;  in  the  supremacy  of  the  civil  over  the  mili- 
tary authority ;  in  the  total  separation  of  Church  and  State,  for  the 
sake  alike  of  civil  and  religious  freedom ;  in  the  equality  of  all 
citizens  before  just  laws  of  their  own  enactment;  in  the  liberty  of 
individual  conduct,  unvexed  by  sumptuary  laws ;  in  the  faithful  edu- 
cation of  the  rising  generation,  that  they  may  preserve,  enjoy,  and 
transmit  these  best  conditions  of  human  happiness  and  hope — we 
behold  the  noblest  products  of  a  hundred  years  of  changeful  history ; 
but,  while  upholding  the  bond  of  our  Union  and  great  charter  of 
these  our  rights,  it  behooves  a  free  people  to  practise  also  that 
eternal  vigilance  which  is  the  price  of  liberty. 

Reform  is  necessary  to  rebuild  and  establish  in  the  hearts  of  the 
whole  people  the  Union,  eleven  years  ago  happily  rescued  from  the 
danger  of  a  secession  of  States,  but  now  to  be  saved  from  a  corrupt 
centralism  which,  after  inflicting  upon  ten  States  the  rapacity  of 
carpet-bag  tyrannies,  has  honeycombed  the  offices  of  the  Federal 
Government  itself  with  incapacity,  waste,  and  fraud ;  infected 
States  and  municipalities  with  the  contagion  of  misrule,  and  locked 
fast  the.  prosperity  of  an  industrious,  people  in  the  paralysis  of  hard 
times. 

Reform  is  necessary  to  establish  a  sound  currency,  restore  the 
public  credit,  and  maintain  the  national  honor. 

We  denounce  the  failure,  for  all  these  eleven  years  of  peace,  to 
make  good  the  promise  of  the  legal  tender  notes,  which  are  a 
changing  standard  of  value  in  the  hands  of  the  people,  and  the 
non-payment  of  which  is  a  disregard  of  the  plighted  faith  of  the 
nation. 

We  denounce  the  improvidence  which,  in  eleven  years  of  peace, 
has  taken  from  the  people  in  Federal  taxes  thirteen  times  the  whole 
amount  of  the  legal  tender  notes,  and  squandered  four  times  their 
sum  in  useless  expense  without  accumulating  any  reserve  for  their 
redemption. 

We  denounce  the  financial  imbecility  and  immorality  of  that  party 
which,  during  eleven  years  of  peace,  has  made  no  advance  toward 
resumption,  no  preparation  for  resumption,  but  instead  has  ob- 

254 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

strutted  resumption,  by  wasting  our  resources  and  exhausting  all 
our  surplus  income;  and,  while  annually  professing  to  intend  a 
speedy  return  to  specie  payments,  has  annually  enacted  fresh 
hindrances  thereto.  As  such  hindrance,  we  denounce  the  resumption 
clause  of  the  act  of  1875,  and  we  here  demand  its  repeal. 

We  demand  a  judicious  system  of  preparation  by  public  econ- 
omy, by  official  retrenchment,  and  by  wise  finance,  which  shall 
enable  the  nation  soon  to  assure  the  whole  world  of  its  perfect 
ability  and  its  perfect  readiness  to  meet  any  of  its  promises  at  the 
call  of  the  creditor  entitled  to  payment. 

We  believe  such  a  system,  well  devised,  and,  above  all,  intrusted 
to  competent  hands  for  its  execution,  creating  at  no  time  an  arti- 
ficial scarcity  of  currency,  and  at  no  time  alarming  the  public  mind 
into  a  withdrawal  of  that  vaster  machinery  of  credit  by  which 
ninety-five  per  cent,  of  all  business  transactions  are  performed — a 
system  open,  public,  and  inspiring  general  confidence — would,  from 
the  day  of  its  adoption,  bring  healing  on  its  wings  to  all  our 
harassed  industries,  set  in  motion  the  wheels  of  commerce,  manu- 
factures, and  the  mechanic  arts,  restore  employment  to  labor,  and 
renew  in  all  its  natural  resources  the  prosperity  of  the  people. 

Reform  is  necessary  in  the  sum  and  modes  of  Federal  taxation, 
to  the  end  that  capital  may  be  set  free  from  distrust,  and  labor 
lightly  burdened. 

We  denounce  the  present  tariff,  levied  upon  nearly  four  thousand 
articles,  as  a  masterpiece  of  injustice,  inequality,  and  false  pretence. 
It  yields  a  dwindling,  not  a  yearly  rising  revenue.  It  has  impov- 
erished many  industries  to  subsidize  a  few.  It  prohibits  imports 
that  might  purchase  the  products  of  American  labor.  It  has  de- 
graded American  commerce  from  the  first  to  an  inferior  rank  on 
the  high  seas.  It  has  cut  down  the  sales  of  American  manufactures 
at  home  and  abroad  and  depleted  the  returns  of  American  agricul- 
ture— an  industry  followed  by  half  our  people.  It  costs  the  people 
five  times  more  than  it  produces  to  the  treasury,  obstructs  the  proc- 
esses of  production,  and  wastes  the  fruits  of  labor.  It  promotes 
fraud,  fosters  smuggling,  enriches  dishonest  officials,  and  bank- 
rupts honest  merchants.  We  demand  that  all  custom-house  taxation 
shall  be  only  for  revenue. 

Reform  is  necessary  in  the  scale  of  public  expense — Federal, 
State,  and  municipal.  Our  Federal  taxation  has  swollen  from  sixty 
millions  gold,  in  1860,  to  four  hundred  and  fifty  millions  currency, 
in  1870;  our  aggregate  taxation  from  one  hundred  and  fifty-four 
millions  gold,  in  1860,  to  seven  hundred  and  thirty  millions  cur- 
rency, in  1870;  or  in  one  decade  from  less  than  five  dollars  per 
head  to  more  than  eighteen  dollars  per  head.  Since  the  peace,  the 
people  have  paid  to  their  tax  gatherers  more  than  thrice  the  sum 
of  the  national  debt,  and  more  than  twice  that  sum  for  the  Fed- 
eral Government  alone.  We  demand  a  rigorous  frugality  in  every 
department,  and  from  every  officer  of  the  Government. 

Reform  is  necessary  to  put  a  stop  to  the  profligate  waste  of  the 
public  lands  and  their  diversion  from  actual  settlers  by  the  party  in 
power,  which  has  squandered  two  hundred  million  acres  upon  rail- 
roads alone,  and  out  of  more  than  thrice  that  aggregate  has  dis- 
posed of  less  than  a  sixth  directly  to  tillers  of  the  soil. 

Reform   is   necessary  to  correct  the  omissions  of  a   Republican 


18 


255 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Congress,  and  the  errors  of  our  treaties  and  diplomacy,  which  have 
stripped  our  fellow-citizens  of  foreign  birth  and  kindred  race  re- 
crossing  the  Atlantic,  of  the  shield  of  American  citizenship,  and 
have  exposed  our  brethren  of  the  Pacific  coast  to  the  incursions  of 
a  race  not  sprung  from  the  same  great  parent  stock,  and,  in  fact, 
now  by  law  denied  citizenship  through  naturalization  as  being 
neither  accustomed  to  the  traditions  of  a  progressive  civilization 
nor  exercised  in  liberty  under  equal  laws.  We  denounce  the  policy 
which  thus  discards  the  liberty-loving  German  and  tolerates  a  re- 
vival of  the  Cooly  trade  in  Mongolian  women  imported  for  im- 
moral purposes,  and  Mongolian  men  held  to  perform  servile  labor- 
contracts,  and  demand  such  modification  of  the  treaty  with  the 
Chinese  empire  or  such  legislation  within  constitutional  limitations 
as  shall  prevent  further  importation  or  immigration  of  the  Mon- 
golian race. 

Reform  is  necessary,  and  can  never  be  effected  but  by  making  it 
the  controlling  issue  of  the  elections,  and  lifting  it  above  the  two 
false  issues  with  which  the  office-holding  class  and  the  party  in 
power  seek  to  smother  it : 

1.  The  false  issue  with  which  they  would  enkindle  sectarian  strife 
in  respect  to  the  public  schools,  of  which  the  establishment  and 
support  belong  exclusively  to  the   several    States,   and   which   the 
Democratic  party  has  cherished  from  their  foundation,  and  is  re- 
solved to  maintain  without  prejudice  or  preference  for  any  class, 
sect,  or  creed,  and  without  largesses  from  the  treasury  to  any. 

2.  The  false  issue  by  which  they  seek  to  light  anew  the  dying 
embers  of  sectional  hate  between  kindred  peoples  once  estranged, 
but  now  reunited  in  one  indivisible  republic  and  a  common  destiny. 

Reform  is  necessary  in  the  civil  service.  Experience  proves  that 
efficient,  economical  conduct  of  the  governmental  business  is  not 
possible  if  its  civil  service  be  subject  to  change  at  every  election; 
be  a  prize  fought  for  at  the  ballot-box ;  be  a  brief  reward  of  party 
zeal,  instead  of  posts  of  honor  assigned  for  proved  competency, 
and  held  for  fidelity  in  the  public  employ;  that  the  dispensing  of 
patronage  should  neither  be  a  tax  upon  the  time  of  all  our  public 
men,  nor  the  instrument  of  their  ambition.  Here,  again,  promises 
falsified  in  the  performance  attest  that  the  party  in  power  can  work 
out  no  practical  or  salutary  reform. 

Reform  is  necessary  even  more  in  the  higher  grades  of  the  pub- 
lic service.  President,  Vice-President,  judges,  Senators,  Represen- 
tatives, Cabinet  officers — these  and  all  others  in  authority  are  the 
people's  servants.  Their  offices  are  not  a  private  perquisite ;  they 
are  a  public  trust. 

When  the  annals  of  this  Republic  show  the  disgrace  and  censure 
of  a  Vice-President ;  a  late  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives marketing  his  rulings  as  a  presiding  officer ;  three  Senators 
profiting  secretly  by  their  votes  as  law-makers ;  five  chairmen  of 
the  leading  committees  of  the  House  of  Representatives  exposed 
in  jobbery;  a  late  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  forcing  balances  in 
the  public  accounts ;  a  late  Attorney-General  misappropriating  pub- 
lic funds ;  a  Secretary  of  the  Navy  enriched  or  enriching  friends 
by  percentages  levied  off  the  profits  of  contractors  with  his  depart- 
ment; an  ambassador  to  England  censured  in  a  dishonorable 
spe9ulation;  the  President's  private  secretary^barely^escaping  con-4 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

viction  upon  trial  for  guilty  complicity  in  frauds  upon  the  revenue; 
a  Secretary  of  War  impeached  for  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors, 
— the  demonstration  is  complete  that  the  first  step  in  reform  must 
be  the  people's  choice  of  honest  men  from  another  party,  lest  the 
disease  of  one  political  organization  infect  the  body  politic,  and 
lest,  by  making  no  change  of  men  or  parties,  we  get  no  change  of 
measures  and  no  real  reform. 

All  these  abuses,  wrongs,  and  crimes,  the  product  of  sixteen 
years'  ascendency  of  the  Republican  party,  create  a  necessity  for 
reform  confessed  by  Republicans  themselves;  but  their  reformers 
are  voted  down  in  convention  and  displaced  from  the  Cabinet. 
The  party's  mass  of  honest  voters  is  powerless  to  resist  the  eighty 
thousand  office-holders,  its  leaders  and  guides. 

Reform  can  only  be  had  by  a  peaceful  civic  revolution.  We 
demand  a  change  of  system,  a  change  of  administration,  a  change 
of  parties,  that  we  may  have  change  of  measures  and  of  men. 

Resolved,  That  this  convention,  representing  the  Democratic 
party  of  the  United  States,  do  cordially  endorse  the  action  of  the 
present  House  of  Representatives  in  reducing  and  curtailing  the 
expenses  of  the  Federal  Government,  in  cutting  down  salaries,  ex- 
travagant appropriations,  and  in  abolishing  useless  offices  and 
places  not  required  by  the  public  necessities;  and  we  shall  trust  to 
the  firmness  of  the  Democratic  members  of  the  House  that  no  com- 
mittee of  conference  and  no  misinterpretation  of  the  rules  shall 
be  allowed  to  defeat  these  wholesome  measures  of  economy  de- 
manded by  the  country. 

Resolved,  That  the  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  Republic,  and  the 
widows  and  orphans  of  those  who  have  fallen  in  battle,  have  a 
just  claim  upon  the  care,  protection,  and  gratitude  of  their  fellow- 
citizens. 

Business  and  trade  were  very  much  depressed  in  1876,  as 
the  country  was  then  approaching  the  panic  and  industrial 
troubles  of  1877,  which  convulsed  the  country  from  Eastern 
to  Western  sea,  and  the  Greenback  or  Independent  National 
party,  as  it  was  called,  exhibited  formidable  proportions  in 
the  contest.  It  held  its  national  convention  at  Indianapolis 
on  the  i8th  of  May,  with  Thomas  J.  Durant,  of  Washington, 
D.  C.,  as  permanent  president.  Peter  Cooper,  the  noted 
philanthropist  of  New  York,  was  unanimously  nominated 
for  President,  and  Newton  Booth,  then  a  California  Senator, 
was  in  like  manner  nominated  for  Vice-President,  but  he 
declined,  and  General  Samuel  F.  Cary,  of  Ohio,  was  substi- 
tuted. There  were  19  States  represented  by  239  delegates. 
The  following  platform  was  unanimously  adopted : 

The  Independent  party  is  called  into  existence  by  the  necessities 
of  the  people,  whose  industries  are  prostrated,  whose  labor  is  de- 
prived of  its  just  reward,  by  a  ruinous  policy  which  the  Republican 
and  Democratic  parties  refuse  to  change,  and  in  view  of  the  failure 

257 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

of  these  parties  to  furnish  relief  to  the  oppressed  industries  of  the 
country,  thereby  disappointing  the  just  hopes  and  expectations  of 
the  suffering  people,  we  declare  our  principles,  and  invite  all  inde- 
pendent and  patriotic  men  to  join  our  ranks  in  this  movement  for 
financial  reform  and  industrial  emancipation. 

1.  We   demand  the  immediate  and   unconditional   repeal   of   the 
Specie-Resumption  act  of  January  14,  1875,  and  the  rescue  of  our 
industries  from  ruin  and  disaster  resulting  from  its  enforcement; 
and  we  call  upon  all  patriotic  men  to  organize,  in  every  Congres- 
sional district  of  the  country,  with  a  view  of  electing  Representa- 
tives to  Congress  who  will  carry  out  the  wishes  of  the  people  in 
this  regard,  and  stop  the  present  suicidal  and  destructive  policy  of 
contraction. 

2.  We  believe  that  a  United  States  note,  issued  directly  by  the 
Government,  and  convertible  on  demand  into  United  States  obli- 
gations, bearing  a  rate  of  interest  not  exceeding  one  cent  a  day  on 
each  one  hundred  dollars,  and  exchangeable  for  United  States  notes 
at  par,  will  afford  the  best  circulating  medium  ever  devised.     Such 
United  States  notes  should  be  full  legal  tender  for  all  purposes  ex- 
cept for  the  payment  of  such  obligations  as  are,  by  existing  con- 
tracts, especially  made  payable  in  coin,  and  we  hold  that  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  Government  to  provide  such  circulating  medium,  and 
insist,  in  the  language  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  that  bank  paper  must 
be  suppressed,  and  the  circulation  restored  to  the  nation,  to  whom 
it  belongs. 

3.  It  is  the  paramount  duty  of  the  Government,  in  all  its  legisla- 
tion, to  keep  in  view  the  full  development  of  all  legitimate  business, 
agricultural,  mining,  manufacturing,  and  commercial. 

4.  We  most  earnestly  protest  against  any  further  issue  of  gold 
bonds,  for  sale  in  foreign  markets,  by  which  we  would  be  made,  for 
a  long  period,  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water  for  foreigners, 
especially  as  the  American  people  would  gladly  and  promptly  take, 
at  par,  all  bonds  the  Government  may  need  to  sell,  provided  they 
are  made  payable  at  the  option  of  the  holder,  and  bearing  interest 
at  3.65  per  cent,  per  annum,  or  even  a  lower  rate. 

5.  We  further  protest  against  the  sale  of  Government  bonds  for 
the  purpose  of  purchasing  silver,  to  be  used  as  a  substitute  for  our 
more  convenient   and   less   fluctuating   fractional   currency,    which, 
although  well  calculated  to  enrich  owners  of  silver  mines,  yet  in 
operation  it  will  still  further  oppress,  in  taxation,  an  already  over- 
burdened people. 

The  Prohibitionists  held  their  national  convention  at 
Cleveland,  O.,  on  the  I7th  of  May,  and  nominated  Greene 
Clay  Smith,  of  Kentucky,  for  President,  and  G.  T.  Stewart, 
of  Ohio,  for  Vice-President,  by  acclamation,  and  adopted 
the  following  platform : 

The  Prohibition  Reform  party  of  the  United  States,  organized  in 
the  name  of  the  people  to  revive,  enforce,  and  perpetuate  in  the 
Government  the  doctrines  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  sub- 
mit in  this  centennial  year  of  the  Republic,  for  the  suffrages  of  all 

258 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

good  citizens,  the  following  platform  of  national  reforms  and  meas- 
ures : 

1.  The  legal  prohibition  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  the  Terri- 
tories, and  in  every  other  place  subject  to  the  laws  of  Congress,  of 
the  importation,  exportation,  manufacture,  and  traffic  of  all  alcoholic 
beverages    as    high    crimes    against  society;  an  amendment  of    the 
national  Constitution  to  render  these  prohibitory  measures  universal 
and  permanent ;  and  the  adoption  of  treaty  stipulations  with  foreign 
powers  to  prevent  the  importation  and  exportation  of  all  alcoholic 
beverages. 

2.  The  abolition  of  class  legislation  and  of  special  privileges  in  the 
Government,  and  of  the  adoption  of  equal  suffrage  and  eligibility  to 
office  without  distinction  of  race,  religious  creed,  property,  or  sex. 

3.  The  appropriation  of  the  public  lands  in  limited  quantities  to 
actual  settlers  only ;  the  reduction  of  the  rates  of  inland  and  ocean 
postage ;  of  telegraphic  communication ;  of  railroad  and  water  trans- 
portation and  tryel  to  the  lowest  practicable  point  by  force  of  law, 
wisely  and  justly  framed,  with  reference  not  only  to  the  interests 
of  capital  employed,  but  to  the  higher  claims  of  the  general  good. 

4.  The  suppression  by  law  of  lottery  and  gambling  in  gold,  stocks, 
produce,  and    every  form  of    money  and    property,  and    the    penal 
inhibition  of  the  use  of  the  public  mails  for  advertising  schemes  of 
gambling  and  lotteries. 

5.  The  abolition  of  those  foul  enormities,  polygamy  and  the  social 
evil,  and  the  protection  of  purity,  peace,  and  happiness  of  homes 
by  ample  and  efficient  legislation. 

6.  The  national  observance  of  the  Christian  Sabbath,  established 
by  laws  prohibiting  ordinary  labor  and  business  in  all  departments 
of  public  service  and  private  employment  (works  of  necessity,  char- 
ity, and  religion  excepted)  on  that  day. 

7.  The   establishment   by   mandatory   provisions    in    national    and 
State  Constitutions,  and  by  all  necessary  legislation,  of  a  system  of 
free  public  schools  for  the  universal  and  forced  education  of  all  the 
youth  of  the  land. 

8.  The  free  use  of  the  Bible,  not  as  a  ground  of  religious  creeds, 
but  as  text-book  of  the  purest  morality,  the  best  liberty,  and  the 
noblest  literature,  in  our    public    schools,  that    our    children    may 
grow  up  in  its  light,  and  that  its  spirit  and  principles  may  pervade 
the  nation. 

9.  The  separation  of  the  Government    in    all    departments    and 
institutions,  including    the    public    schools  and    all  funds  for  their 
maintenance,  from  the  control  of  every  religious  sect  or  other  asso- 
ciation, and  the  protection  alike  of  all   sects  by  equal  laws,   with 
entire  freedom  of  religious  faith  and  worship. 

10.  The   introduction   into  all   treaties   hereafter  negotiated   with 
foreign  governments  of  a  provision  for  the  amicable  settlement  of 
international  difficulties  by  arbitration. 

11.  The  abolition  of  all  barbarous  modes  and  instruments  of  pun- 
ishment; the   recognition  of    the   laws    of  God    and    the    claims  of 
humanity  in  the  discipline  of  jails  and  prisons,  and  of  that  higher 
and  wiser  civilization  worthy  of  our  age  and  nation,  which  regards 
the  reform  of  criminals  as  a  means  for  the  prevention  of  crime. 

12.  The  abolition  of    executive    and    legislative    patronage,   and 
the  election  of  President,  Vice- President,  United  States  Senators, 

259 


OUR  PRESIDENTS' 

and  of  all  civil  officers,  so  far  as  practicable,  by  the  direct  vote  of  the 
people. 

13.  The  practice  of  a  friendly  and  liberal  policy  to  immigrants  from 
all  nations,  the  guarantee  to  them  of  ample  protection,  and  of  equal 
rights  and  privileges. 

14.  The  separation  of  the  money  of  Government  from  all  bank- 
ing institutions.    The  National  Government  only  should  exercise  the 
high  prerogative  of  issuing  paper  money,  and  that  should  be  sub- 
ject to  prompt  redemption  on  demand  in  gold  and  silver,  the  only 
equal  standards  of  value  recognized  by  the  civilized  world. 

15.  The  reduction  of  the  salaries  of  public  officers  in  a  just  ratio 
with  the  decline  of  wages  and  market  prices,  the  abolition  of  sine- 
cures, unnecessary  offices,  and  official  fees  and  perquisites ;  the  prac- 
tice of  strict  economy  in  Government  expenses,  and  a  free  and  thor- 
ough investigation  into  any  and  all  alleged  abuses  of  public  trusts. 

A  mass  convention  held  under  the  name  of  the  American 
National  party  met  in  Pittsburg  on  the  Qth  of  June,  1875, 
and  nominated  James  B.  Walker,  of  Illinois,  for  President, 
and  Donald  Kirkpatrick,  of  New  York,  for  Vice-President. 
This  political  organization  made  no  figure  in  the  contest  of 
1876,  and  did  not  again  appear  in  the  subsequent  national 
elections.  The  following  platform  was  adopted : 

We  hold:  i.  That  ours  is  a  Christian  and  not  a  heathen  nation, 
and  that  the  God  of  the  Christian  Scriptures  is  the  author  of  civil 
government. 

2.  That  God  requires  and  man  needs  a  Sabbath. 

3.  That  the  prohibition  of  the  importation,  manufacture,  and  sale 
of  intoxicating  drinks  as  a  beverage  is  the  true  policy  on  the  tem- 
perance question. 

4.  The  charters  of  all  secret  lodges  granted  by  our  Federal  and 
State  Legislatures  should  be  withdrawn,  and  their  oaths  prohibited 
by  law. 

5.  That  the  civil  equality  secured  to  all  American  citizens  by  Arti- 
cle I3th,  I4th,  and  I5th  of  our  amended  Constitution  should  be  pre- 
served inviolate. 

6.  That  arbitration  of  differences  with  nations  is  the  most  direct 
and  sure  method  of  securing  and  perpetuating  a  permanent  peace. 

7.  That  to  cultivate  the  intellect  without  improving  the  morals  of 
men,  is  to  make  mere  adepts  and  experts ;  therefore,  the  Bible  should 
be  associated  with  books  of  science  and  literature  in  all  our  educa- 
tional institutions. 

8.  That  land  and  other  monopolies  should  be  discountenanced. 

9.  That  the  Government  should  furnish  the  people  with  an  ample 
and  sound  currency,  and  a  return  to  specie  payment  as  soon  as  prac- 
ticable. 

10.  That  maintenance  of  the  public  credit,  protection  to  all  loyal 
citizens,  and  justice  to  Indians  are  essential  to  the  honor  and  safety 
of  our  nation. 

11.  And  finally,  we  demand  for  the  American  people  the  abolition 
of  electoral  colleges,  and  a  direct  vote  for  President  and  Vice-Prcsi- 
dent  of  the  United  States. 

260 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

The  contest  of  1876  was  conducted  with  great  earnestness, 
but  it  was  not  distinguished  for  the  defamation  of  can- 
didates. The  popular  tide  seemed  to  be  with  Tilden,  as  the 
reformation  he  had  wrought  in  the  Democratic  party  by  the 
overthrow  of  Tweed  in  New  York  presented  him  in  bold 
contrast  to  the  administration  of  Grant,  that  had  brought 
a  tempest  of  scandals  upon  the  party ;  but  misfortune  seemed 
to  multiply  upon  Tilden  from  the  beginning  to  the  close 
of  the  battle.  His  first  disaster,  and  what  in  the  end  proved 
to  be  a  fatal  one,  was  the  result  of  the  admission  of  Colorado 
into  the  Union.  Thomas  N.  Patterson,  an  active  Democrat, 
had  been  chosen  as  a  delegate  to  Congress  from  Colorado 
in  1874  by  a  majority  of  2163,  and  he  gave  the  Democrats, 
who  largely  controlled  the  House,  the  positive  assurance 
that  the  admission  of  Colorado  would  bring  in  another 
Democratic  State.  They  had  the  power  to  exclude  Colorado, 
but  believing  that  the  large  majority  of  the  Democrats  had, 
under  Patterson's  lead  in  1874,  anchored  the  Territory  safely 
in  the  Democratic  column,  the  Democrats  admitted  the  new 
State,  and  her  three  electoral  votes  decided  the  election 
against  Tilden,  as  even  with  South  Carolina,  Florida,  and 
Louisiana  taken  from  Tilden,  all  of  which  had  voted  for 
him,  Hayes  was  chosen  by  a  single  vote. 

'The  first  State  election  in  Colorado  was  held  in  the 
summer  of  1876,  and  to  the  utter  consternation  of  the  Demo- 
crats the  Republicans  elected  the  entire  State  ticket  with 
25  majority  on  joint  ballot  in  the  Legislature,  and  it  was 
settled  before  the  State  election  that  the  new  State  would 
not  be  put  to  the  trouble  and  expense  of  another  election  for 
President  in  the  fall,  and  that  the  Legislature  would  choose 
the  electors,  as  it  did.  Tilden  thus  started  in  the  contest 
with  three  electoral  votes  positively  assured  against  him  in 
the  new  State,  that  had  been  admitted  because  it  was  confi- 
dently expected  to  be  Democratic?) 

On  the  popular  vote  Tilden  had,  according  to  the  Repub- 
lican returns,  252,224  majority  over  Hayes,  and  had  the 
electoral  colleges  cast  their  votes  as  the  popular  vote  was 
cast  in  Louisiana,  Florida,  and  South  Carolina,  Tilden  would 
have  received  203  to  156  for  Hayes.  The  following  table 
presents  the  popular  vote  and  gives  the  Democratic  and 
Republican  returns  of  Florida  and  Louisiana,  with  the  totals 
as  they  would  appear  with  either  count  accepted : 


261 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 


STATES. 

Samuel  J.Tilden, 
Democrat. 

d 
If 

y 

& 

Peter  Cooper, 
Greenback. 

Green  C.  Smith, 
Prohibitionist. 

*  Scattering. 

S 

o 
> 

1 

Alabama  .  . 

102,002 
58,071 
76,465 

68,230 
38,669 
79,269 

59,034 
10,752 
23,849 
50,446 
278,232 
208,011 
171,327 
78,322 
97,156 
75,135 
66,300 
71,981 
150,063 
166,534 
72,962 
52,605 
145,029 
31,916 
10,383 
41,539 
103,517 
489,207 
108,417 
330,698 
15,206 
384,122 
15,787 
91,870 
89,566 
44,800 
44,092 
95,558 
42,698 
130,668 

289 
47 



19 

170,232 
97,029 
155,800 

Arkansas  

Connecticut  

61,934 
13,381 
22,923 
130,088 
258,601 
213,526 
112,099 
37,902 
159,690 
70,508 
49,823 
91,780 
108,777 
141,095 
48,799 
112,173 
203,077 
17,554 
9,308 
38,509 
115,962 
521,949 
125,427 
323,182 
14,149 
366,158 
10,712 
90,906 
133,166 
104,755 
20,254 
139,670 
56,455 
123,927 

774 

378 

36 

122,156 
24,133 
46,772 
180,534 
554,493 
431,070 
292,463 
124,133 
259,608 
145,643 
116,786 
163,804 
259,703 
317,526 
124,144 
164,778 
351,765 
53,506 
19,691 
80,124 
220,234 
1,017,330 
233,844 
658,649 
29,865 
758,869 
26,627 
182,776 
222,732 
149,555 
64,346 
235,228 
100,526 
256,131 

Florida! 

286 
23 

Georgia 

17,233 
9,533 
9,001 

7,776 
1,944 

141- 

36 
110 

818 

Illinois 

Indiana  

Iowa  

Kansas      

Kentucky 

Maine 

663 
33 
779 
9,060 
2,311 

3,498 
2,320 

71 

Maryland  

10 

84 
766 

72 

64 
1,599 

Massachusetts  .  . 
Michigan 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri  

97 

117 

1,828 
76 
83 

New  Hampshire. 
New  Jersey 

76 
712 

1,987 

3,057 
510 

7,187 
68 

43 
2,359 

1,636 

1,319 
60 

New  York  

North  Carolina.  . 
Ohio 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania..  .  . 
Rhode  Island  .  .  . 
South  Carolina.. 
Tennessee 

1,373 
1,509 

Texas 

27 

Vermont. 

Virginia 

West  Virginia  .  . 
^^isconsin 

Total  

4,284,757 

4,033,950 

81,740 

9,522 

2,636 

8,412,605 

*  "Scattering"  includes  the  votes  of  the  Anti- Masonic  and  American  Alli- 
ance tickets.  t  The  electors  were  chosen  by  the  legislature.  $  Returning 
Board's  count,  Nov.  28,  1876.  A  majority  of  94  to  1197  was  claimed  for  Tilden  by 
the  Democrats,  and  the  opinion  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Florida  gave  Tilden 
94  majority.  §  Returning  Board's  count.  The  figures  on  the  face  of  the 
returns,  when  opened  by  the  Board,  are  claimed  to  have  been  :  Tilden,  82,326 ; 
Hayes,  77,023.  Tilden's  majority,  5,303. 

262 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

On  the  morning  after  the  election,  newspapers  of  all 
parties  announced  the  election  of  Tilden  for  President,  but 
a  murmur  of  the  coming  storm  came  at  the  same  time  from 
Senator  Chandler,  of  New  Hampshire,  who  was  secretary 
of  the  national  committee,  of  which  Senator  Zachariah 
Chandler,  of  Michigan,  was  chairman,  who  announced  that 
Hayes  was  elected,  and  declared  that  the  States  of  Florida, 
Louisiana,  and  South  Carolina  had  honestly  voted  for  Hayes, 
and  that  he  would  finally  receive  their  electoral  votes.  With 
the  whole  machinery  of  the  Government  in  the  hands  of  the 
Republicans,  it  was  almost  a  hopeless  battle  for  Tilden  to 
fight  for  the  disputed  Southern  States,  but  the  Democratic 
people  became  violently  aroused,  and  threats  were  freely 
made  that  the  inauguration  of  Hayes  would  be  prevented 
by  mob  violence  if  attempted. 

So  grave  had  the  situation  become  that  both  branches 
of  Congress  finally  passed  an  act,  creating  what  was  known 
as  the  Electoral  Commission,  that  should  be  a  tribunal  of 
last  resort,  to  determine  the  disputed  election.  The  bill 
passed  the  House  by  the  vote  of  158  Democrats  and  33 
Republicans,  with  68  Republicans  and  18  Democrats  voting 
in  the  negative ;  and  in  the  Senate  the  bill  was  passed  by  the 
votes  of  26  Democrats  and  21  Republicans,  with  16  Repub- 
licans and  i  Democrat  voting  against  it.  The  measure  was 
approved  by  the  President  on  the  2Qth  of  January.  As 
a  majority  of  the  Democrats  in  both  Houses  favored  the 
measure,  it  was  assumed  that  Tilden  desired  them  to  support 
it,  but  in  point  of  fact  Tilden  was  irresolute,  and  put  it  upon 
his  friends  to  decide  what  should  be  done.  Had  any  other 
man  been  the  Democratic  candidate,  he  would  have  been 
a  great  leader  and  an  aggressive  one ;  but  from  the  beginning 
to  the  close  of  the  post-election  battle  Tilden  was  apparently 
dwarfed  into  utter  helplessness,  and  when  it  became  evident 
that  the  Commission  would  decide  against  him,  he  distinctly 
disclaimed  all  responsibility  for  the  creation  of  the  tribunal. 
The  Electoral  Commission  was  finally  made  up  under  the 
law,  composed  of  Senators  Edmunds,  Morton,  Freling- 
huysen,  Republicans,  and  Thurman  and  Bayard,  Democrats ; 
of  Representatives  Payne,  Hunton,  and  Abbott,  Democrats, 
and  Garfield  and  Hoar,  Republicans,  with  Justices  Strong 
and  Miller,  Republicans,  and  Clifford  and  Field,  Democrats, 
and  the  fifth  member  of  the  court  to  be  chosen  by  the  four. 
Justice  David  Davis  \vas  first  chosen  as  the  fifth  judicial 

263 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


member  of  the  court,  but  he  declined,  as  he  had  just  been 
elected  to  the  Senate  by  Illinois,  and  Justice  Bradley  was 
then  selected  to  fill  his  place.  Had  Davis  remained  on  the 
Commission,  it  is  reasonably  certain  that  the  vote  of  the 
Electoral  Commission  would  have  been  8  for  Tilden  and 
7  for  Hayes.  This  Commission,  whose  judgment  was  to  be 
final,  decided  in  favor  of  Hayes  on  every  disputed  proposition 
by  a  vote  of  8  to  7,  and  thus  made  him  President  by  the 
following  electoral  vote : 


STATES. 

Hayes. 

Tilden. 

STATES. 

Hayes. 

Tilden. 

Alabama  

10 

Missouri  

15 

Arkansas   .       ... 

6 

Nebraska 

3 

California  

6 

Nevada  

3 

Colorado 

3 

New  Hampshire  . 

5 

6 

New  Jersey 

9 

Delaware  



3 

New  York 

35 

Florida  

4 

North  Carolina. 

10 

Georgia  

11 

Ohio  

22 

Illinois            

21 

Oregon 

3 

Indiana   

15 

Pennsylvania 

29 

Iowa 

11 

Rhode  Island 

4 

Kansas 

5 

South  Carolina 

7 

Kentucky  

12 

Tennessee. 

12 

Louisiana  

8 

Texas         .     ... 

8 

7 

Vermont  ,  .  .  . 

5 

Maryland  

8 

Virginia  

11 

Massachusetts  

13 

West  Virginia.  ..... 

5 

Michigan 

11 

Wisconsin. 

10 

Minnesota 

5 

Mississippi 

8 

Total 

185 

184 

The  true  history  of  the  struggle  for  the  control  of  the 
electoral  votes  of  South  Carolina,  Florida,  and  Louisiana  has 
never  been  written  and  now  never  can  be  fully  written.  The 
ablest  men  of  both  sides  attended  the  contest  in  those  States 
to  battle  for  or  against  the  action  of  the  returning  boards. 
All  three  States  had  voted  for  Tilden,  but  the  returning 
boards,  which  had  been  created  by  the  carpet-bag  rule  of  the 
South,  set  aside  the  returns  on  the  plea  of  fraud  and  certified 
the  electoral  vote  for  Hayes.  The  strength  of  the  claim  of 
the  Democrats  was  practically  admitted  after  the  inaugura- 
tion of  Hayes  by  the  President  aiding  in  the  adjustments 
which  gave  the  Democrats  the  Governors  and  the  Legislatures 

264 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

of  those  States,  and  ousting  the  Republicans  who  had  given 
the  electoral  vote  to  the  President. 

The  chief  factor  in  the  bold  and  revolutionary  action  that 
returned  the  three  States  named  for  the  Republican  candi- 
date for  President  was  J.  Donald  Cameron,  then  Secretary 
of  War  under  President  Grant,  and  later  United  States  Sen- 
ator. He  is  nothing  if  not  heroic  when  occasion  demands 
it.  I  remember  calling  upon  him  at  the  Continental  Hotel 
a  few  days  after  the  election,  and  inquired  of  him  whether  he 
really  meant  to  force  the  reversal  of  the  vote  in  those  States 
and  have  Hayes  returned  as  elected.  He  answered  with  per- 
fect frankness  that  he  had  started  in  to  do  it,  that  he  meant 
to  do  it,  and  that  it  was  right  to  do  it,  as  the  Republicans 
had  not  opportunity  to  vote  in  the  South,  and  the  only  way 
to  meet  such  frauds  was  by  the  strong  power  of  the  Govern- 
ment. 

But  for  the  assurance  that  the  army  and  navy  would  sus- 
tain the  returning  boards  of  those  States  in  whatever  they 
did  under  color  of  law,  the  reversal  of  the  popular  vote  never 
could  have  been  accomplished.  The  State  of  Florida  was 
manipulated  by  Robert  W.  Mackey,  who  was  the  most  ac- 
complished politician  the  Republicans  have  ever  produced 
in  Pennsylvania.  He  was  apparently  dying  of  consumption 
for  ten  years,  and  when  it  became  necessary  to  send  some 
competent  man  to  handle  Florida,  he  was  selected.  He 
started  on  his  mission,  and  his  racking  cough  and  general 
consumptive  features  gave  plausibility  to  the  statement  that 
he  was  going  South  to  nurse  his  health.  Two  Democratic 
visiting  committeemen  were  on  the  same  train,  and  he  over- 
heard them  mature  their  plans  to  hold  the  State  for  Tilden. 
He  telegraphed  to  C.  D.  Brigham,  who  had  been  a  prominent 
editor  and  Republican  politician  in  Pittsburg,  but  who  then 
resided  in  Florida,  to  meet  him  at  the  station,  and  before  the 
Democrats  attempted  to  carry  their  plans  into  execution 
they  were  completely  blocked  by  Mackey,  who  could  sum- 
mon all  the  Federal  officials  to  his  aid. 

Governor  Curtin  and  Senator  Sherman  met  face  to  face  at 
New  Orleans  in  the  struggle  to  win  the  electoral  vote  of 
Louisiana,  and  at  one  stage  of  the  battle  Tilden  could  have 
secured  the  vote  by  telegraphing  a  single  word  to  Curtin ;  but 
Tilden  seemed  to  have  lost  his  cunning,  and  hesitation  was 
exhibited  by  him  at  every  stage  of  the  conflict  when  the 
promptest  action  was  indispensable.  I  visited  him  at  his 

265 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

home  in  Gramercy  Park  when  the  contest  was  on  at  white 
heat,  and  was  amazed  to  find  his  table  covered  with  legal 
briefs,  as  though  his  election  depended  upon  the  law  that 
would  govern  before  a  competent  and  impartial  judicial 
tribunal.  He  permitted  himself  and  his  friends  to  become 
involved  in  a  compromising  way  in  the  Oregon  dispute  for 
a  single  elector,  and  had  the  same  method  been  adopted  in 
Louisiana,  he  would  have  won.  Instead  of  discussing  the 
situation  as  it  was,  he  presented  to  me  elaborate  arguments 
to  show  how  it  should  be,  and  I  could  not  refrain  from 
reminding  him  that  he  was  not  dealing  with  judicial  tribu- 
nals nor  with  honest  men,  and  that  he  must  either  meet  them 
on  their  own  ground  and  with  their  own  weapons  or  he  must 
fall  in  the  fight.  He  seemed  to  be  utterly  bewildered,  and 
the  man  who  had  organized  his  nomination  and  election  with 
consummate  skill  shrivelled  up  into  pitiable  indecision  and 
inaction  when  he  had  the  power  to  cast  the  die  for  or  against 
himself. 

The  severe  strain  upon  the  popular  sentiment  of  the  coun- 
try that  had  given  Tilden  250,000  majority  for  President  was 
greatly  tempered,  especially  in  the  South,  by  a  very  shrewd 
movement  planned  early  in  the  after-election  contest  to  con- 
ciliate the  leading  people  of  the  South.  They  received  posi- 
tive assurances  from  men  very  close  to  Hayes,  and  who  gave 
the  assurance  of  Hayes's  approval  of  the  movement,  that  if 
Hayes  should  be  inaugurated  President  without  violence  the 
State  governments  of  Louisiana,  Florida,  and  South  Caro- 
lina would  be  given  to  the  Democrats.  That  Hayes  ap- 
proved of  the  plan  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  after  he 
became  President  he  stood  resolutely  by  the  promise  made 
by  his  friends  to  give  the  Democrats  control  of  the  govern- 
ments of  those  States. 

There  was  not  serious  friction  in  Florida ;  the  Democratic 
candidate  for  Governor  was  allowed  to  be  inaugurated  on  a 
returned  majority  of  195  as  given  by  the  Supreme  Court. 
In  South  Carolina  the  face  of  the  returns  gave  Wade  Hamp- 
ton 1134  majority  for  Governor,  with  about  a  like  majority 
for  the  Democratic  Presidential  electors,  but  tl~  ~  Returning 
Board  threw  out  Democratic  counties  and  retui.v-.-ed  Cham- 
berlain, Republican,  as  elected  Governor  by  a  majority  of 
3433>  and  gave  the  Republican  electors  majorities  ranging 
from  600  to  900. 

Two  Legislatures  were  organized  and  two  claimants  for 

266 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

the  Governorship  were  qualified,  but  after  a  long  siege,  in 
which  the  friends  of  Hampton  were  with  difficulty  restrained 
from  taking  violent  possession  of  the  Capitol,  the  Republi- 
cans gave  up  the  contest,  as  they  discovered  that  President 
Hayes  would  not  support  them,  and  Hampton  and  his  asso- 
ciate Democratic  candidates  and  a  Democratic  Legislature 
were  accepted. 

The  great  battle  was  made  in  Louisiana,  where  the  Return- 
ing Board  gave  Hayes  the  State  by  a  majority  of  4807,  and 
declared  the  Republican  electors  chosen  by  about  the  same 
majority.  The  face  of  the  returns  gave  a  majority  of  7876 
for  Tilden  and  8101  for  Nichols,  Democratic  candidate  for 
Governor.  There,  as  in  South  Carolina,  two  Governors 
were  qualified  and  two  Legislatures  organized,  and  Stephen 
B.  Packard,  who  had  been  counted  in  as  the  Republican 
Governor,  and  had  been  largely  instrumental  in  giving  the 
electoral  vote  to  Hayes,  and  thereby  electing  him,  demanded 
that  the  President  should  sustain  him,  logically  insisting 
that  if  Hayes  was  elected  Packard  was  elected,  and  that  if 
Packard  must  go  out  Hayes  must  go  out  with  him. 

The  faith  of  the  President  and  his  friends  were  pledged  to 
the  people  of  property  in  Louisiana  that  they  should  have 
their  own  State  government,  but  it  was  a  most  difficult  obli- 
gation to  discharge.  Finally,  the  President  appointed  a 
committee  of  eminent  Republicans,  two  of  whom  were  the 
present  Senator  Hawley,  of  Connecticut,  and  ex-Attorney- 
General  Wayne  MacVeagh,  of  Washington,  to  go  to  New 
Orleans  and  solve  the  problem.  The  first  necessity  to  accom- 
plish that  result  was  to  withdraw  enough  Senators  and  Rep- 
resentatives from  the  Packard  Legislature  to  the  Nichols 
Legislature  to  give  Nichols  a  quorum  in  both  houses  of  un- 
disputed legislators,  as  that  would  leave  Packard  without  a 
Legislature  and  clothe  Nichols's  government  with  all  the 
ceremony  of  law. 

Many  of  the  Packard  legislators  were  negroes,  and  most 
of  them  commercial.  The  change  could  be  effected  only  by 
purchase,  in  which  the  Hawley  and  MacVeagh  committee  had 
no  part.  There  were  enough  and  to  spare  of  Packard  legis- 
lators who  were  willing  to  sell  out,  but  the  Democrats  were 
impoverished  and  could  not  raise  money  to  buy  them.  One 
of  the  active  men  in  the  movement  was  Duncan  F.  Kenner, 
one  of  the  most  prominent  men  in  the  State  for  many  years, 
and  among  the  Senators  in  the  market  was  one  of  his  former 

267 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

slaves,  who  demanded  a  high  price.  The  State  had  been 
desolated,  business  paralyzed,  and  the  people  of  Louisiana 
had  not  recovered  from  the  universal  waste  of  war,  and  while 
they  were  more  than  willing  to  buy  enough  of  the  Packard 
men  to  give  Nichols  the  Legislature,  they  were  absolutely 
without  the  means  to  do  it. 

In  this  emergency  the  Louisiana  Lottery  Company  came 
forward  and  proposed  to  furnish  the  citizens  of  New  Or- 
leans, who  were  managing  the  movement,  all  the  money  they 
needed  on  condition  that  when  the  Democrats  came  into 
power  and  amended  the  Constitution,  they  should  give  the 
Louisiana  Lottery  a  twenty-five-year  charter  in  the  Consti- 
tution. It  was  a  hard  bargain,  but  as  they  could  do  no  bet- 
ter they  accepted  the  proffer,  and  a  very  large  sum  of  money 
was  thus  furnished  and  paid  to  the  negroes  and  carpet-bag 
legislators,  who  were  very  glad  to  get  under  cover  with  cash 
in  their  pockets,  knowing  that  the  end  of  carpet-bag  rule  was 
near  at  hand.  Packard  finally  found  himself  abandoned 
by  a  majority  of  the  undisputed  Senators  and  Representa- 
tives. His  administration  thus  ended,  and  the  promise  of 
the  friends  of  Hayes,  which  Hayes  manfully  sustained,  was 
fully  performed,  and  the  property  people  of  the  South  were 
given  their  right  to  govern  their  own  States  as  the  price  of 
assenting  to  Hayes  as  President. 

The  Nichols  government  kept  faith  with  the  Louisiana 
Lottery  Company,  and  the  people  of  Louisiana  have  ever 
since  been  unjustly  criticised  as  the  only  State  in  the  Union 
that  gave  the  highest  possible  charter  to  a  lottery  company, 
as  they  could  not  explain  the  inexorable  conditions  which 
compelled  them  to  do  it.  This  was  the  last  act  of  the  great 
political  drama  of  1876-77  that  made  Rutherford  B.  Hayes 
President. 

The  action  of  Tilden  defeating  Chase  in  the  Democratic 
convention  of  1868  had  its  sequel  with  mingled  romance  and 
reality  in  the  defeat  of  Tilden  for  the  Presidency  in  1877, 
when  the  vote  of  Louisiana  was  passed  upon  by  the  Senate. 
Kate  Chase  Sprague  was  the  most  brilliant  woman  in 
Washington  society  during  the  war  period,  and  in  every  way 
one  of  the  most  attractive.  Her  home  in  Washington  was 
the  centre  of  the  most  accomplished  men  in  public  life,  and 
among  them  was  Roscoe  Conkling,  the  ablest  of  the  Repub- 
lican Senators.  The  contest  for  the  Presidency  before  the 
Electoral  Commission  in  1876-77  turned  on  the  vote  of 

268 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

Louisiana,  and  it  required  the  approving  vote  of  the  Senate 
to  give  the  electoral  vote  of  that  State  to  Hayes.  Had  it 
been  given  to  Tilden,  he  would  have  been  the  President. 
Many  believed  that  Hayes  had  not  been  elected  and  should 
not  be  declared  elected,  and  among  those  who  shared  that 
conviction  was  Mr.  Conkling,  although  he  did  not  publicly 
express  it. 

The  Senate  was  carefully  canvassed,  and  enough  Repub- 
lican votes  were  marshalled  to  throw  the  vote  of  the  Senate 
in  favor  of  Tilden  on  the  Louisiana  issue  if  Conkling  would 
lead  in  support  of  that  policy,  and  it  was  understood 
that  he  had  agreed  to  do  so.  When  the  crucial  time  came 
Conkling  did  not  appear  at  all,  and  the  anti-Hayes  Repub- 
licans, being  without  a  leader,  fell  back  to  their  party  lines 
and  gave  the  vote  of  the  State  and  the  Presidential  certificate 
to  Hayes.  It  is  an  open  secret  that  Conkling  resolved  his 
doubts  as  urged  by  Mrs.  Sprague,  who  thereby  avenged 
the  defeat  of  her  father  in  the  Democratic  nomination  of 
1868,  that  had  been  accomplished  by  Tilden  ;  and  thus  Tilden 
lost  the  Presidency,  to  which  he  had  been  elected  by  a  popular 
majority  of  over  250,000. 


THE   GARFIELD -HANCOCK    CONTEST 

1880 


THE  greatest  battle  ever  fought  in  a  national  convention 
was  witnessed  at  Chicago  where  the  Republican  National 
Convention  met  on  June  2,  1880.  Grant  had  made  his 
journey  around  the  world,  received  the  homage  of  the  high- 
est rulers  of  every  clime,  and  returned  to  be  greeted  with 
a  degree  of  popular  enthusiasm  that  had  never  before  been 
given  to  any  citizen  of  the  Republic.  During  Grant's 
absence  his  friends  had  made  tireless  efforts  to  organize  his 
forces  in  all  the  States,  and  the  friends  of  Blaine,  who 
fought  this  battle  royal  with  the  friends  of  Grant,  had  been 
equally  earnest  and  ceaseless  to  give  Blaine  the  victory.  It 
was  indeed  a  battle  of  giants,  and  the  auditorium  in  which 
the  convention  was  held  was  the  most  impressive  picture 
I  have  ever  witnessed.  There  were  not  less  than  ten  thousand 
spectators  in  addition  to  the  full  delegations  and  alternates 
from  the  States.  Neither  of  the  opposing  chieftains  ever 
had  a  majority  in  the  body,  but  for  a  week  they  stood  up 
face  to  face  with  unbroken  lines  and  belligerent  leaders  in 
hand-to-hand  conflict. 

Among  the  delegates  were  Conkling,  Garfield,  Harrison, 
Logan,  and  many  other  conspicuous  and  able  leaders  of 
the  opposing  factions.  Elaine's  people,  with  the  aid  of  the 
field,  weakened  Grant's  lines  by  preventing  the  unit  rule 
in  any  delegation,  whereby  Grant  lost  a  considerable  number 
of  votes  in  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  other  States.  That 
was  a  test  of  the  distinctive  Grant  strength  in  the  body. 
Conkling  opened  the  nominations  by  presenting  the  name 
of  Grant,  and  he  did  it  in  imperial  grandeur  and  with 
a  degree  of  eloquence  that  was  most  impressive.  Next  to 
the  speech  of  Ingersoll,  who  nominated  Blaine  in  1876, 
Conkling's  appeal  for  the  nomination  of  Grant  will  stand 
as  the  ablest  of  all  the  many  able  deliverances  in  the  history 

270 


JAMES;  A.  OAKFIKLD 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

of  American  politics.  I  sat  quite  close  to  him  on  the  platform 
when  he  delivered  it,  and  he  was  a  most  interesting  study. 
Had  he  been  as  discreet  as  he  was  eloquent,  it  would  have 
been  a  perfect  exhibition  of  impressive  oratory ;  but  Conkling 
was  inspired  not  only  by  his  love  of  Grant,  but  more  in- 
fluenced than  he  confessed  to  himself  by  an  intense  hatred 
of  Elaine,  that  he  cherished  until  his  death. 

He  mortally  offended  every  friend  of  Elaine,  and  thereby 
made  it  impossible  even  to  win  the  hesitating  men  in  the 
Elaine  ranks  by  his  keen  and  pungent  fling  at  the  delegates 
who  disregarded  their  instructions  to  vote  as  a  unit  for 
Grant,  and  by  his  aggressive  assault  upon  Elaine  when  he 
referred  to  Grant  as  a  candidate  "  without  patronage,  without 
emissaries,  without  committees,  without  bureaus,  without 
telegraph  wires  running  from  his  house  to  this  convention 
or  running  from  his  house  anywhere."  Unlike  the  Ingersoll 
speech  nominating  Elaine  in  1876,  the  speech  of  Conkling, 
able,  eloquent,  and  grand  as  it  was,  left  Grant  weaker, 
instead  of  stronger. 

Very  general  interest  centred  in  General  Garfield,  who 
was  at  the  head  of  the  Ohio  delegation,  that  was  instructed 
for  Senator  Sherman  for  President.  Garfield  knew  the 
situation;  he  knew  that  a  third  candidate  must  eventually 
be  accepted,  and  he  illy  concealed  his  efforts  to  advance 
himself,  while  ostensibly  struggling  for  Sherman.  His 
speech  nominating  Sherman  was  a  plea  for  peace  rather 
than  an  aggressive  presentation  of  Sherman's  claims,  and 
it  was  well  understood  that  his  plea  for  peace  was,  in  fact, 
a  plea  for  himself.  At  various  stages  of  the  balloting  tidal 
waves  of  enthusiasm  would  start  for  Garfield,  and  he 
narrowly  escaped  a  spontaneous  nomination.  He  was  per- 
sonally very  popular,  of  imposing  presence,  a  most  accom- 
plished speaker,  and  he  was  finally  accepted  by  the  friends 
of  Elaine  because  he  was  not  the  partisan  of  either  Elaine 
or  Grant,  and  also  because  they  could  certainly  win  with 
him,  and  thus  defeat  Grant. 

The  convention  became  weary  of  what  was  evidently  an 
equal  contest  between  the  Grant  and  Elaine  forces,  and  all 
who  were  not  intensely  enlisted  in  the  factional  fight  were 
glad  to  end  the  bitter  struggle  by  accepting  Garfield.  Grant's 
memorable  306  stood  by  him  and  never  lowered  their  flag 
until  they  were  defeated  and  fell  with  their  faces  to  the  foe. 

Senator    Hoar,    of    Massachusetts,    was    the    permanent 

19  271 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


president  of  the  convention,  and  it  was  a  battle  of  giants, 
lasting  well  in  to  the  second  week.  Mr.  Joy,  who  presented 
the  name  of  Elaine  to  the  convention,  grievously  disappointed 
the  friends  of  the  Plumed  Knight.  His  advocacy  of  his  chief 
was  tame  compared  with  the  masterly  orations  of  Conkling 
and  Garfield,  but  his  friends  were  in  admirable  fighting  trim, 
and  no  such  heroic  struggle  as  that  between  Elaine  and 
Grant  has  ever  been  recorded  in  the  history  of  American 
politics.  Conkling  was  chairman  of  his  delegation,  and  was 
offensively  imperious  in  every  announcement  that  he  made 
to  the  convention.  His  delegation  had  been  instructed  to 
vote  a  unit  for  Grant,  but  the  convention  had  unshackled 
the  delegates  by  allowing  each  one  to  cast  his  vote  according 
to  his  choice,  and  Conkling  in  announcing  the  vote  for 
Elaine  in  New  York  always  did  it  with  a  sneer,  and  often 
with  offensive  expression.  A  ballot  was  not  reached  until 
Monday  of  the  second  week  in  the  convention,  and  for  two 
days  the  extraordinary  spectacle  was  presented  of  Grant 
and  Elaine  holding  their  forces  with  but  little  variation, 
until  the  Elaine  column  finally  broke  for  Garfield.  The 
following  table  presents  the  ballots  in  detail : 


•d 

a 
c 

CO 

"O 

a 

CO* 

cu 
rt 

!_ 

rt 

.j 

S3 

d 

0 

'o 

c 

0 

3 
2 

c 

§ 

a 

O 

bo 

d 

'> 

•3 

3 

(_ 

«H 

°cS 

d 

Cj 

43 

CO 

•d 

T3 

P3 

CQ 

S 

a 

n 

0) 

c« 

aS 

BALLOTS. 

(5 

O 

PQ 

S 

1 

W 

*S 

a 

o3 

C/J 

K 

•M 

tfl 

CO 

CO 

d 

CO 

5 

CO 

w 

• 
to 

a 

«2 

0) 

0) 

be 

O 

o 

w 

•d 
a 

a 

P< 

a 

B 

L 

a 

« 

S 

a 

8 

(H  • 

O 

~ 

x 

c 

o 

&5 

d 

B 

3 

o 

s 

5 

o 
»—  i 

S 

O 

* 

d 

0) 

O 

« 

o 

S 

I 

(U 

CQ 

^ 

0) 

» 

1st.. 

304 

284 

93 

31 

34 

10 

755 

378 

2d 

1 

305 

98? 

94 

31 

39 

10 

755378 

3d      

1 

305 

989 

93 

31 

39 

10 

1 

755  378 

4th.     .  .  . 

i 

305 

981 

95 

31 

39 

10 

___ 

1 

755  378 

5th  

i 

305 

281 

95 

31 

32 

10 













1 

755  378 

6th  

2 

305 

280 

95 

31 

32 

10 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 





755 

378 

7th  

2 

305 

281 

94 

31 

32 

10 

— 

— 

— 

— 



— 

— 

755 

378 

8th 

1 

306 

<>8d 

91 

qo 

31 

10 

755 

97Q 

9th. 

9 

308 

989 

90 

39 

31 

10 



755  278 

10th  

9 

305 

989 

99 

39 

31 

10 

1 

,  

755 

378 

llth 

o 

305 

981 

93 

3° 

31 

10 

-, 

755 

378 

12th. 

1 

304 

983 

33 

31 

10 

1 

755 

^78 

13th. 

1 

305 

985 

89 

33 

31 

10 

1 

_ 

755  378 

14th. 

305 

<>85 

89 

35 

31 

10 

755  37« 

15th. 

— 

309 

281 

88 

36 

31 

10 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

755 

378 

272 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


BALLOTS. 

James  A.  Garfield. 

Ulysses  S.  Grant. 

1  G.  Blaine. 

John  Sherman. 

Elihu  B.  Washburne. 

George  F.  Edmunds. 

William  Windom. 

Rutherford  B.  Hayes. 

George  W.  McCrary. 

Roscoe  Conkling. 

John  F.  Hartranft. 

Edmund  J.  Davis. 

Philip  H.  Sheridan. 

Benjamin  Harrison. 

"5 
1 

Necessary  to  a  choice,  j 

16th. 

1 
1 
1 
1 
2 
2 
2 
2 
2 
2 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 
17 
50 
399 

306 
303 
305 
305 
308 
305 
305 
304 
305 
302 
303 
306 
307 
305 
306 
308 
309 
:-;<>'.) 
312 
313 
300 

283 

283 
279 
876 
278 

•27.-, 
•27.") 
279 
•2S1 
2*0 
•277 
279 
278 
279 
276 
•270 
•276 
•275 
•257 
42 

88 
90 
91 
96 
93 
96 
97 
97 
93 
94 
93 
93 
91 
116 
120 
118 
117 
110 
107 
99 
3 

36 
36 
35 
32 
35 
35 
35 
36 
35 
35 
36 
36 
35 
35 

gc 

37 

44 
44 
30 
23 
5 

31 
31 
31 
31 
31 
31 
31 
31 
31 
31 
31 
31 
31 
12 
11 
11 
11 
11 
11 
11 

10 
10 
10 
10 
10 
10 
10 
10 
10 
10 
10 
10 
10 

r> 
t 

4 
3 
3 
4 
4 
3 

— 

— 

1 

1 
1 

1 
1 

1 

1 

— 

754 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
756 
756 
755 

378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
379 
379 
378 

17th.   .  .  . 

18th  

19th  .  .  . 

20th  

91st 

22d  .  . 

23d  .  ... 

24th  

25th  
26th  
27th.  .  . 
28th. 

29th  

30th. 

31st  
32d  

33d 

34th 

35th  

36th  

While  it  was  generally  expected  that  the  convention  would 
eventually  stampede  to  Garfield,  the  movement  was  given 
vitality  and  form  by  the  Wisconsin  delegation.  The  only 
name  prominently  discussed  as  a  compromise  candidate  in 
addition  to  that  of  Garfield  was  the  name  of  Senator 
Windom,  of  Minnesota,  who  had  received  the  vote  of  his 
State  from  the  start.  In  a  caucus  of  the  delegation  a  small 
majority  of  the  Wisconsin  delegation  voted  to  prefer  Garfield 
to  Windom,  and  that  movement  started  the  tide  that  gave 
the  victory  to  Garfield.  It  is  quite  possible  that  if  Wisconsin 
had  declared  for  Windom,  instead  of  Garfield,  as  it  failed 
to  do  by  only  a  very  few  votes,  Windom  might  have  been 
made  the  candidate,  as  he  occupied  a  very  strong  position 
in  the  party,  was  free  from  factional  alliances,  and  probably 
would  have  been  quite  as  strong  a  candidate  with  the  people 

273 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

as  Garfield.  When  the  Wisconsin  delegation  decided  to 
break  the  deadlock  by  accepting  Garfield,  it  opened  the  door 
for  the  wearied  anti-Grant  gladiators  to  find  speedy  and 
gratifying  refuge.  Grant's  column  stood  to  him  with  mar- 
vellous fidelity.  He  started  with  304  votes,  never  fell  below 
302,  never  rose  above  313,  and  ended  on  the  final  ballot 
with  306.  The  nomination  of  Garfield  was  made  unanimous 
amidst  the  wildest  enthusiasm. 

Senator  Conkling  was  in  violent  temper  over  the  defeat 
of  Grant,  and  when  he  was  asked  to  name  a  candidate  for 
Vice-President  he  at  first  petulantly  refused  to  do  so,  but 
some  of  his  more  deliberate  friends  suggested  the  name  of 
Chester  A.  Arthur,  who  was  in  the  delegation.  Arthur 
had  acted  as  chairman  during  part  of  the  balloting  when 
Conkling  was  absent,  and  his  dignified  and  manly  manner 
of  announcing  the  vote  of  his  State  contrasted  very  favorably 
with  the  offensive  manner  of  Conkling.  Conkling  assented 
to  rather  than  dictated  the  nomination  of  Arthur,  and  the 
ist  ballot  for  Vice-President  was  as  follows: 


Chester  A.  Arthur,  N.  Y...  468 
Elihu  B.  Washburne,  111. . .   199 

Marshall  Jewell,  Conn 43 

Horace  Maynard,  Tenn 30 

Edmund  J.  Davis,  Texas  . .     20 


Blanche    K.    Bruce     (Col.), 

Miss 8 

James  L.  Alcorn,  Miss  .....  4 

Thomas  Settle,  Fla 2 

Stewart  L.  Woodford,  N.  Y.  1 

The 


The  nomination   was   promptly   made   unanimous, 
following  platform  was  unanimously  adopted : 

The  Republican  party  in  national  convention  assembled,  at  the 
end  of  twenty  years  since  the  Federal  Government  was  first  commit- 
ted to  its  charge,  submits  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  this 
brief  report  of  its  administration.  It  suppressed  the  Rebellion  which 
had  armed  nearly  a  million  of  men  to  subvert  the  national  authority. 
It  reconstructed  the  Union  of  the  States  with  freedom  instead  of  sla- 
very as  its  corner-stone.  It  transformed  four  millions  of  human  beings 
from  the  likeness  of  things  to  the  rank  of  citizens.  It  relieved  Con- 
gress from  the  infamous  work  of  hunting  fugitive  slaves,  and 
charged  it  to  see  that  slavery  does  not  exist.  It  has  raised  the  value 
of  our  paper  currency  from  thirty-eight  per  cent,  to  the  par  of  gold. 
It  has  restored  upon  a  solid  basis  payment  in  coin  for  all  the  national 
obligations,  and  has  given  us  a  currency  absolutely  good  and  equal 
in  every  part  of  our  extended  country.  It  has  lifted  the  credit  of 
the  nation  from  the  point  where  six  per  cent,  bonds  sold  at  eighty- 
six  per  cent,  to  that  where  four  per  cent,  bonds  are  eagerly  sought 
at  &  premium.  Under  its  administration  railways  have  increased 
from  thirty-one  thousand  miles  in  1860  to  more  than  eighty-two 
thousand  miles  in  1879.  Our  foreign  trade  has  increased  from  seven 
hundred  million  dollars  to  one  billion,  one  hundred  and  fifty  million 
dollars  in  the  same  time,  and  our  exports,  which  were  twenty  mil- 


274 


CHESTER    A.    ARTHUR 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

lion  dollars  less  than  our  imports  in  1860,  were  two  hundred  and 
sixty-four  million  more  than  our  imports  in  1879.  Without  resort- 
ing to  loans,  it  has,  since  the  war  closed,  defrayed  the  ordinary 
expenses  of  government  besides  the  accruing  interest  on  the  public 
debt,  and  has  annually  disbursed  more  than  thirty  million  dollars 
for  soldiers'  pensions.  It  has  paid  eight  hundred  and  eighty-eight 
million  dollars  of  the  public  debt,  and,  by  refunding  the  balance  at 
lower  rates,  has  reduced  the  annual  interest  charge  from  nearly  one 
hundred  and  fifty-one  million  dollars  to  less  than  eighty-nine  mil- 
lion dollars.  All  the  industries  of  the  country  have  revived,  labor 
is  in  demand,  wages  have  increased,  and  throughout  the  entire  coun- 
try there  is  evidence  of  a  coming  prosperity  greater  than  we  have 
ever  enjoyed. 

Upon  this  record  the  Republican  party  asks  for  the  continued  con- 
fidence and  support  of  the  people,  and  this  convention  submits  for 
their  approval  the  following  statement  of  the  principles  and  purposes 
which  will  continue  to  guide  and  inspire  its  efforts : 

1.  We  affirm  that  the  work  of  the  last  twenty-one  years  has  been 
such  as  to  commend  itself  to  the  favor  of  the  nation,  and  that  the 
fruits  of  the  costly  victories  which  we  have  achieved  through  im- 
mense difficulties    should    be    preserved;  that    the    peace    regained 
should  be  cherished;  that  the  dissevered  Union,  now  happily  re- 
stored, should  be  perpetuated,  and  that  the  liberties  secured  to  this 
generation   should   be   transmitted   undiminished   to   future   genera- 
tions ;   that  the  order  established  and  the  credit  acquired    should 
never  be  impaired;  that    the    pensions    promised  should  be  extin- 
guished by  the  full  payment  of  every  dollar  thereof;  that  the  reviving 
industries    should    be  further    promoted,  and    that    the    commerce, 
already  so  great,  should  be  steadily  encouraged. 

2.  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  is  a  supreme  law,  and 
not  a  mere  contract ;  out  of  confederated  States  it  made  a  sovereign 
nation.   Some  powers  are  denied  to  the  nation,  while  others  are  denied 
to  the  States;  but  the  boundary  between  the  powers  delegated  and 
those  reserved  is  to  be  determined  by  the  national,  and  not  by  the 
State  tribunals. 

3.  The  work  of  popular  education  is  one  left  to  the  care  of  the  sev- 
eral States,  but  it  is  the  duty  of  the  National  Government  to  aid  that 
work  to  the  extent  of  its  constitutional  duty.       The  intelligence  of 
the  nation  is  but  the    aggregate  of   the    intelligence    in  the  several 
States,  and  the  destiny  of  the  nation  must  be  guided,  not  by  the 
genius  of  any  one  State,  but  by  the  average  genius  of  all. 

4.  The  Constitution  wisely  forbids    Congress    to    make    any  law 
respecting  an  establishment  of  religion,  but  it  is  idle  to  hope  that 
the  nation  can  be  protected  against  the  influences  of  sectarianism 
while  each  State  is  exposed  to  its  domination.     We  therefore  recom- 
mend that  the  Constitution  be  so  amended  as  to  lay  the  same  pro- 
hibition upon  the  Legislature  of  each  State,  and  to  forbid  the  appro- 
priation of  public  funds  to  the  support  of  sectarian  schools. 

5.  We  affirm  the  belief  avowed  in  1876,  that  the  duties  levied  for 
the  purpose  of  revenue  should  so  discriminate  as  to  favor  American 
labor;  that  no  further  grant  of  the  public  domain  should  be  made 
to  any  railway  or  other  corporation ;  that,  slavery  having  perished 
in  the  States,  its  twin  barbarity,  polygamy,  must  die  in  the  Terri- 
tories ;  that  everywhere  the  protection  accorded  to  citizens  of  Ameri- 

275 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

can  birth  must  be  secured  to  citizens  by  American  adoption ;  and 
that  we  esteem  it  the  duty  of  Congress  to  develop  and  improve  our 
watercourses  and  harbors,  but  insist  that  further  subsidies  to  private 
persons  or  corporations  must  cease ;  that  the  obligations  of  the 
Republic  to  the  men  who  preserved  its  integrity  in  the  hour  of  battle 
are  undiminished  by  the  lapse  of  the  fifteen  years  since  their  final 
victory — to  do  them  perpetual  honor  is,  and  shall  forever  be,  the 
grateful  privilege  and  sacred  duty  of  the  American  people. 

6.  Since    the  authority  to    regulate    immigration    and    intercourse 
between  the  United  States  and  foreign  nations  rests  with  Congress, 
or  with  the  United  States  and  its  treaty-making  powers,  the  Repub- 
lican party,  regarding  the  unrestricted  immigration  of  the  Chinese 
as  an  evil  of  great  magnitude,  invoke  the  exercise  of  those  powers 
to  restrain  and  limit  that  immigration  by  the  enactment  of  such  just, 
humane  and  reasonable  provisions  as  will  produce  that  result. 

7.  That  the  purity  and  patriotism  which  characterized  the  earlier 
career  of  Rutherford  B.  Hayes  in  peace  and  war,  and  which  guided 
the  thoughts  of  our  immediate  predecessors  to  him  for  a  Presiden- 
tial candidate,  have  continued  to  inspire  him  in  his  career  as  Chief 
Executive,   and  that  history  will   accord  to  his  administration  the 
honors  which  are  due  to  an  efficient,  just,  and  courteous  discharge 
of  the  public  business,  and  will  honor  his  interposition  between  the 
people  and  proposed  partisan  laws. 

We  charge  upon  the  Democratic  party  the  habitual  sacrifice  of 
patriotism  and  justice  to  a  supreme  and  insatiable  lust  of  office  and 
patronage;  that  to  obtain  possession  of  the  national  and  State 
Governments  and  the  control  of  place  and  position  they  have 
obstructed  all  efforts  to  promote  the  purity  and  to  conserve  the 
freedom  of  suffrage,  and  have  devised  fraudulent  certifications  and 
returns;  have  labored  to  unseat  lawfully  elected  members  of  Con- 
gress, to  secure  at  all  hazards  the  vote  of  a  majority  of  the  States 
in  the  House  of  Representatives;  have  endeavored  to  occupy  by 
force  and  fraud  the  places  of  trust  given  to  others  by  the  people  of 
Maine,  and  rescued  by  the  courageous  action  of  Maine's  patriotic 
sons ;  have,  by  methods  vicious  in  principle  and  tyrannical  in  prac- 
tice, attached  partisan  legislation  to  appropriation  bills,  upon  whose 
passage  the  very  movements  of  the  Government  depend,  and  have 
crushed  the  rights  of  individuals;  have  advocated  the  principles 
and  sought  the  favor  of  rebellion  against  the  nation,  and  have 
endeavored  to  obliterate  the  sacred  memories  of  the  war,  and  to 
overcome  its  inestimably  valuable  results  of  nationality,  personal 
freedom,  and  individual  equality. 

The  equal,  steady,  and  complete  enforcement  of  laws  and  the 
protection  of  all  our  citizens  in  the  enjoyment  of  all  privileges  and 
immunities  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution,  are  the  first  duties  of 
the  nation.  The  dangers  of  a  solid  South  can  only  be  averted  by  a 
faithful  performance  of  every  promise  which  the  nation  has  made 
to  the  citizen.  The  execution  of  the  laws  and  the  punishment  of 
all  those  who  violate  them  are  the  only  safe  methods  by  which  an 
enduring  peace  can  be  secured  and  genuine  prosperity  established 
throughout  the  South.  Whatever  promises  the  nation  makes,  the 
nation  must  perform,  and  the  nation  cannot  with  safety  delegate 
this  duty  to  the  States.  The  solid  South  must  be  divided  by  the 
peaceful  agencies  of  the  ballot,  and  all  opinions  must  there  find 

276 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

free  expression,  and  to  this  end  the  honest  voter  must  be  protected 
against  terrorism,  violence,  or  fraud. 

And  we  affirm  it  to  be  the  duty  and  the  purpose  of  the  Republican 
party  to  use  every  legitimate  means  to  restore  all  the  States  of  this 
Union  to  the  most  perfect  harmony  that  may  be  practicable;  and 
we  submit  it  to  the  practical,  sensible  people  of  the  United  States 
to  say  whether  it  would  not  be  dangerous  to  the  dearest  interests 
of  our  country  at  this  time  to  surrender  the  administration  of  the 
National  Government  to  the  party  which  seeks  to  overthrow  the 
existing  policy  under  which  we  are  so  prosperous,  and  thus  bring 
distrust  and  confusion  where  there  are  now  order,  confidence,  and 
hope. 

The  Republican  party,  adhering  to  principles  affirmed  by  its  last 
national  convention  of  respect  for  the  constitutional  rule  covering 
appointments  to  office,  adopts  the  declaration  of  President  Hayes, 
that  the  reform  of  the  civil  service  should  be  thorough,  radical,  and 
complete.  To  this  end  it  demands  the  co-operation  of  the  legislative 
with  the  executive  department  of  the  Government,  and  that  Congress 
shall  so  legislate  that  fitness,  ascertained  by  proper,  practical  tests, 
shall  admit  to  the  public  service. 

General  Grant  had  become  intensely  interested  in  the  con- 
test for  a  third  term,  and  he  had  every  reason  to  believe  that 
it  would  be  accorded  to  him.  Foreign  travel  and  intelligent 
observation  had  greatly  enlarged  his  narrow  political  ideas 
and  tempered  his  political  asperities,  and  he  would  undoubt- 
edly have  made  a  much  better  President  than  ever  he  did 
before.  But  the  unwritten  law  of  the  nation  confronted 
him,  declaring  that  no  man  could  fill  the  Presidential  chair 
for  a  longer  period  than  did  George  Washington.  It  was 
that  sentiment  that  decided  the  contest  against  him. 

He  was  at  his  home  in  Galena,  not  far  from  Chicago,  dur- 
ing the  sessions  of  the  convention,  but  while  he  was  advised 
of  what  transpired  from  day  to  day,  he  gave  no  directions  and 
made  no  suggestions  to  his  friends.  He  had  the  ablest  gal- 
axy of  leaders  that  ever  appeared  in  a  national  convention 
in  support  of  any  one  candidate,  and  he  trusted  them  im- 
plicitly. On  the  morning  after  the  convention  adjourned  he 
came  to  Chicago,  and  I  met  him  at  the  Palmer  House,  where 
he  had  come  to  confer  with  his  discomfited  friends.  His 
face  gave  no  sign  of  the  disappointment  he  had  suffered. 
He  met  his  friends  in  even  a  more  genial  way  than  was  his 
custom.  He  expressed  himself  as  entirely  content  with  the 
decision  of  the  convention,  and  greatly  appreciated  the  sup- 
port that  had  been  given  him.  He  never  looked  better  in 
his  life,  and  while  I  could  not  congratulate  him,  I  could 
truthfully  express  my  gratification  at  seeing  him  the  picture 
of  health  and  comfort. 

277 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

He  was  then  in  entire  accord  with  his  leading  friends  in 
their  purpose  to  prevent  the  election  of  Garfield,  and  for  two 
months  after  the  campaign  opened  Garfield  would  have  been 
overwhelmingly  beaten,  but  after  Conkling's  conference  with 
Garru  /I  in  Ohio,  Grant's  friends  gave  a  most  zealous  support 
to  Garfield's  election,  and  barely  saved  him  by  the  aid  of 
Tammany's  betrayal  of  Hancock. 

The  Democratic  National  Convention  met  at  Cincinnati  on 
the  22d  of  June,  with  John  W.  Stevenson,  of  Kentucky,  as 
permanent  president.  The  dispute  over  contested  seats 
lasted  until  the  second  day.  Massachusetts,  that  had  never 
voted  for  a  Democratic  candidate  for  President,  put  up  the 
fiercest  fight  between  disputing  delegations,  and  New  York 
had  a  bitter  factional  quarrel  between  delegations  chosen  by 
the  regular  Democrats  and  another  chosen  by  the  Tammany 
people.  The  Tammany  followers,  under  the  lead  of  John 
Kelly,  were  very  vindictive  in  their  opposition  to  Tilden, 
openly  declaring  that  they  would  not  support  Tilden  if  nomi- 
nated, and  the  Tammany  delegation  was  rejected.  The 
position  of  Tilden  was  regarded  as  doubtful  until  well  on  in 
the  second  day  of  the  contest,  when  an  elaborate  letter  from 
him  was  read  to  the  convention  withdrawing  his  name.  The 
letter  had  been  prepared  by  Tilden  and  given  to  a  trusted 
friend  to  use  it  only  if  it  became  evident  that  Tilden  could 
not  be  again  nominated,  or  that  he  could  not  be  elected  if 
nominated.  The  judgment  of  his  most  dispassionate  friends 
was  that  he  might  be  nominated,  but  that  he  could  not  be 
elected,  with  the  fierce  opposition  of  Tammany  and  his  fail- 
ure to  assert  his  right  to  the  Presidency  in  1877. 

After  Tilden's  withdrawal  the  contest  was  really  between 
Hancock  and  Samuel  J.  Randall,  of  Pennsylvania.  If  the 
Tilden  strength  had  been  concentrated  on  Randall  at  the 
opening  of  the  convention,  his  nomination  would  have  been 
within  the  range  of  probability,  but  even  after  Tilden  with- 
drew he  hesitated  until  the  2d  ballot  before  he  gave  Ran- 
dall any  support.  Bayard  was  a  close  second  to  Hancock 
on  the  ist  ballot,  but  he  was  at  no  time  within  sight  of  a 
nomination. 

It  was  on  this  occasion  that  the  late  Daniel  Dougherty 
made  the  most  eloquent  speech  of  his  life,  presenting  the 
name  of  Hancock  to  the  convention.  He  was  not  a  member 
of  the  delegation,  but  was  called  into  it  for  the  purpose  on 
the  morning  of  the  day  that  the  nomination  was  to  be  made. 

278 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


He  hurried  around  to  my  room  at  the  St.  Nicholas,  as  he 
hesitated  about  accepting  the  duty  assigned  him.  He  always 
prepared  his  important  speeches  and  memorized  them.  I 
earnestly  urged  him  to  go  at  once  to  his  room  and  write  a 
short  speech  and  be  prepared  to  deliver  it.  He  finally  de- 
cided to  do  so,  and  in  a  speech  of  not  over  twenty  minutes 
he  delivered  the  greatest  oration  of  his  life. 

Only  two  ballots  were  had  for  President,  and  on  the  sec- 
ond Hancock  was  so  largely  in  the  lead,  having  320  to  128^ 
for  Randall,  that  the  delegations  began  to  change  their  votes 
until  Hancock  had  705  to  33  for  all  others.  The  following 
table  gives  the  ballots  in  detail : 


CANDIDATES. 

First. 

Second. 

After 
changes. 

Winfield  S    Hancock    Pennsylvania.. 

171 

320 

705 

Thomas  F    Bayard    Delaware 

153^ 

113 

2 

Henry  B   Payne   Ohio                    

81 

Allen  G   Thurman   Ohio. 

68^ 

50 

Stephen  J.  Field   California  

65 

65^ 

\Villiam  R    ^lorrison    Illinois 

62 

50K 

31 

30 

Samuel  J   Tilden    New  York 

38 

6 

1 

Horatio  Seymour   New  York 

8 

Samuel  J    Randall    Pennsylvania. 

128^ 

Scattering 

31 

22^ 

As  Indiana  was  one  of  the  debatable  States,  William  H. 
English,  of  that  State,  was  nominated  for  Vice-President, 
with  only  Richard  M.  Bishop,  of  Ohio,  named  against  him. 
Before  the  ballot  had  proceeded  to  any  considerable  extent, 
Bishop's  name  was  withdrawn,  and  English  given  a  unani- 
mous nomination.  The  following  platform  was  unani- 
mously adopted: 

The  Democrats  of  the  United   States,   in  convention  assembled, 
declare — 

1.  We  pledge  ourselves  anew  to  the  constitutional  doctrines  and 
traditions  of  the  Democratic  party,  as  illustrated  by  the  teachings 
and  example  of  a  long  line  of  Democratic  statesmen  and  patriots, 
and  embodied  in  the  platform  of  the  last  national  convention  of  the 
party. 

2.  Opposition  to  centralizationism  and  to  that  dangerous  spirit  of 
encroachment    which    tends   to    consolidate   the   powers    of    all    the 
departments  in  one,  and  thus  to  create,  whatever  be  the  form  of 
government,  a  real  despotism.     No  sumptuary  laws;  separation  of 

279 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Church  and  State  for  the  good  of  each;  common  schools  fostered 
and  protected. 

3.  Home  rule;  honest  money,  consisting  of  gold  and  silver,  and 
paper  convertible  into  coin  on  demand ;   the  strict  maintenance  of 
the  public  faith,  State  and  national;  and  a  tariff  for  revenue  only. 

4.  The    subordination    of    the    military    to    the    civil    power,    and 
a  general  and  thorough  reform  of  the  civil  service. 

5.  The  right  to  a  free  ballot  is  the  right  preservative  of  all  rights, 
and  must  and  shall  be  maintained  in  every  part  of  the  United  States. 

6.  The  existing  administration  is  the  representative  of  conspiracy 
only,  and  its  claim  of  right  to  surround  the  ballot-boxes  with  troops 
and  deputy  marshals,  to  intimidate  and  obstruct  the  electors,  and 
the    unprecedented    use    of    the    veto    to    maintain    its    corrupt   and 
despotic  power,  insult  the  people  and  imperil  their  institutions. 

7.  The  grand  fraud  of  1876-77,  by  which,  upon  a  false  count  of 
the  electoral  votes  of  two  States,  the  candidate  defeated  at  the  polls 
was  declared  to  be  President,  and,  for  the  first  time  in  American 
history,  the  will  of  the  people  was  set  aside  under  a  threat  of  mili- 
tary violence,  struck  a  deadly  blow  at  our  system  of  representative 
government;   the   Democratic  party,   to  preserve  the   country   from 
a  civil  war,  submitted  for  a  time  in  firm  and  patriotic  faith  that  the 
people   would  punish   this   crime  in    1880;    this   issue   precedes   and 
dwarfs  every  other;  it  imposes  a  more  sacred  duty  upon  the  people 
of  the  Union  than   ever  addressed  the   conscience   of  a  nation   of 
freemen. 

8.  We  execrate  the  course  of  this  administration  in  making  places 
in  the  civil  service  a  reward  for  political  crime,  and  demand  a  reform 
by  statute  which  shall  make  it  forever  impossible  for  the  defeated 
candidate  to  bribe  his   way  to   the   seat  of  a  usurper  by  billeting 
villains  upon  the  people. 

9.  The  resolution  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden  not  again  to  be  a  candidate 
for  the  exalted  place  to  which  he  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  his 
countrymen,   and  from   which   he  was   excluded  by  the  leaders   of 
the  Republican  party,  is  received  by  the  Democrats  of  the  United 
States    with    sensibility,    and    they    declare    their   confidence    in   his 
wisdom,    patriotism,    and    integrity,    unshaken    by    the    assaults    of 
a  common  enemy,  and  they  further  assure  him  that  he  is  followed 
into  the  retirement  he  has  chosen  for  himself  by  the  sympathy  and 
respect   of   his    fellow-citizens,    who    regard    him    as    one    who,    by 
elevating  the  standards  of  public  morality,  merits  the  lasting  grati- 
tude of  his  country  and  his  party. 

10.  Free  ships  and  a  living  chance  for  American  commerce  on  the 
seas  and  on  the  land.     No  discrimination  in  favor  of  transportation 
lines,  corporations,  or  monopolies. 

11.  Amendment    of    the    Burlingame    treaty.      No    more    Chinese 
immigration,   except   for  travel,   education,   and   foreign   commerce, 
and  therein  carefully  guarded. 

12.  Public  money  and  public  credit  for  public  purposes  solely,  and 
public  land  for  actual  settlers. 

13.  The  Democratic  party  is  the  friend  of  labor  and  the  laboring 
man,  and  pledges  itself  to  protect  him  alike  against  the  cormorant 
and  the  commune. 

14.  We  congratulate  the  country  upon  the  honesty  and  thrift  of 
a  Democratic  Congress,  which  has  reduced  the  public  expenditure 
forty  million  dollars  a  year;  upon  the  continuation  of  prosperity  at 

280 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

home  and  the  national  honor  abroad;  and,  above  all,  upon  the 
promise  of  such  a  change  in  the  administration  of  the  Government 
as  shall  insure  us  genuine  and  lasting  reform  in  every  department 
of  the  public  service. 

The  National  Greenback  party  held  its  national  convention 
at  Chicago  on  the  Qth  of  June,  with  Richard  Trevellick,  of 
Michigan,  as  permanent  president.  A  single  ballot  was  had 
for  President,  resulting  as  follows : 

James  B.  Weaver,  Iowa  . .  224^  II  Solon  Chase,  Maine 89 

Henry  B.  Wright,  Penn. .  126^  Edward  P.  Allis,  Wis 41 

Stephen  D.  Dillaye,  N.  Y.  119  Alexander  Campbell,  111 ...  21 

f  Ben j.  F.  Butler,  Mass 95      II 

Before  the  vote  was  finally  announced  delegations  speedily 
changed  their  votes  to  Weaver,  and  he  was  declared  unani- 
mously chosen  as  the  candidate.  B.  B.  Chambers,  of  Texas, 
was  nominated  for  Vice-President  by  403  votes  to  311  for 
Allanson  M.  West,  of  Mississippi.  The  following  platform 
was  adopted : 

1.  That  the  right  to  make  and  issue  money  is  a  sovereign  power 
to  be  maintained  by  the  people  for  the  common  benefit     The  dele- 
gation of  this  right  to  corporations  is  a  surrender  of  the  central 
attribute  of  sovereignty,  void  of  constitutional  sanction,  conferring 
upon    a    subordinate    irresponsible    power  absolute  dominion  over 
industry  and  commerce.     All   money,   whether  metallic  or  paper, 
should  be  issued  and  its  volume  controlled  by  the  Government,  and 
not  by  or  through  banking  corporations,  and,  when  so  issued,  should 
be  a  full  legal  tender  for  all  debts,  public  and  private. 

2.  That  the  bonds  of  the  United  States  should  not  be  refunded, 
but  paid  as  rapidly  as  practicable,  according  to  contract.    To  enable 
the   Government   to   meet  these  obligations,    legal    tender   currency 
should  be  substituted  for  the  notes  of  the  national  banks,  the  national 
banking  system  abolished,  and  the  unlimited  coinage  of  silver,  as 
well  as  gold,  established  by  law. 

3.  That  labor  should  be  so  protected  by  national  and  State  au- 
thority as   to  equalize   its  burdens   and   insure   a   just   distribution 
of  its  results ;  the  eight-hour  law  of  Congress  should  be  enforced ; 
the    sanitary    condition    of    industrial    establishments    placed    under 
rigid  control ;  the  competition  of  contract  labor  abolished ;  a  bureau 
of  labor  statistics  established ;    factories,  mines,  and  workshops  in- 
spected ;    the  employment  of  children  under  fourteen  years  of  age 
forbidden ;  and  wages  paid  in  cash. 

4.  Slavery  being  simply  cheap  labor,  and  cheap  labor  being  simply 
slavery,  the  importation  and  presence  of  Chinese  serfs  necessarily 
tends   to  brutalize  and   degrade   American   labor ;   therefore   imme- 
diate steps  should  be  taken  to  abrogate  the  Burlingame  treaty. 

5.  Railroad  land  grants  forfeited  by  reason  of  non-fulfilment  of 
contract   should   be   immediately   reclaimed   by    Government;     and 
henceforth  the  public  domain   reserved   exclusively  as  homes   for 
actual  settlers. 

28l 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

6.  It  is  the  duty  of  Congress  to  regulate  interstate  commerce. 
All  lines  of  communication  and  transportation  should  be  brought 
under  such  legislative  control  as  shall  secure  moderate,  fair,  and 
uniform  rates  for  passenger  and  freight  traffic. 

7-  We  denounce,  as  destructive  to  prosperity  and  dangerous  to 
liberty,  the  action  of  the  old  parties  in  fostering  and  sustaining 
gigantic  land,  railroad,  and  money  corporations,  invested  with,  and 
exercising,  powers  belonging  to  the  Government,  and  yet  not  re- 
sponsible to  it  for  the  manner  of  their  exercise. 

8.  That  the  Constitution,  in  giving  Congress  the  power  to  borrow 
money,  to  declare  war,  to  raise  and  support  armies,  to  provide  and 
maintain   a  navy,   never  intended   that   the  men   who  loaned   their 
money  for  an  interest  consideration  should  be  preferred  to  the  sol- 
dier and  sailor   who  perilled  their  lives  and   shed  their  blood  on 
land  and  sea  in  defence  of  their  country;    and  we  condemn   the 
cruel  class  legislation  of  the  Republican  party,   which,   while  pro- 
fessing great  gratitude  to  the  soldier,  has  most  unjustly  discrimi- 
nated against  him  and  in  favor  of  the  bondholder. 

9.  All  property  should  bear  its  just  proportion  of  taxation;  and 
we  demand  a  graduated  income  tax. 

10.  We  denounce  as  most  dangerous  the  efforts  everywhere  man- 
ifest to  restrict  the  right  of  suffrage. 

n.  We  are  opposed  to  an  increase  of  the  standing  army  in  time 
of  peace,  and  the  insidious  scheme  to  establish  an  enormous  mili- 
tary power  under  the  guise  of  militia  laws. 

12.  We  demand  absolute  democratic  rules  for  the  government  of 
Congress,  placing  all  representatives  of  the  people  upon  an  equal 
footing,  and  taking  away  from  committees  a  veto  power  greater  than 
that  of  the  President. 

13.  We  demand  a  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and 
for  the  people,  instead  of  a  government  of  the  bondholders,  by  the 
bondholders,   and   for   the    bondholders ;     and   we   denounce   every 
attempt  to  stir  up  sectional  strife  as  an  effort  to  conceal  monstrous 
crimes  against  the  people. 

14.  In  the  furtherance  of  these  ends,  we  ask  the  co-operation  of 
all  fair-minded  people.     We  have  no  quarrel  with  individuals,  wage 
no   war   upon   classes,   but   only    against   vicious   institutions.      We 
are  not  content  to  endure  further  discipline  from  our  present  actual 
rulers,  who,  having  dominion  over  money,  over  transportation,  over 
land  and  labor,  and  largely  over  the  press  and  the  machinery  of 
government,  wield  unwarrantable  power  over  our  institutions,  and 
over  our  life  and  property. 

15.  That  every  citizen  of  due  age,  sound  mind,  and  not  a  felon, 
be  fully  enfranchised,  and  that  this   resolution  be  referred  to  the 
States,  with  recommendation  for  their  favorable  consideration. 


The  Prohibition  convention  met  at  Cleveland  on  the  I7th 
of  June.  The  platform  was  substantially  a  repetition  of  the 
platform  of  1876,  and  General  Neal  Dow,  of  Maine,  was 
presented  for  President,  and  A.  M.  Thompson,  of  Ohio,  for 
Vice-President. 

282 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


The  few  scattered  fragments  of  the  American  party  held 
a  convention  on  the  27th  of  June,  and  nominated  John  W. 
Phelps,  of  Vermont,  for  President,  and  Samuel  C.  Pomeroy, 
of  Kansas,  for  Vicc-President.  Their  platform  declared 
against  secret  societies,  Freemasonry  in  particular,  and  all 
other  anti-Christian  movements.  The  party  was  not  heard 
of  in  the  contest. 

The  Presidential  contest  of  1880  was  remarkable  for  the 
absence  of  bitterness  or  vituperation.  Garfield  and  Hancock 
were  both  highly  respected,  and  I  cannot  recall  a  struggle 
for  the  Presidency  that  exhibited  less  of  the  asperities  which 
are  usually  displayed  in  the  struggle  for  the  political  control 
of  the  nation.  Hancock  was  beaten  on  the  popular  vote  by 
a  majority  of  but  little  over  7000,  and  he  lost  his  election 
by  Tammany  failing  to  give  him  a  cordial  support  in  New 
York. 

The  following  table  presents  the  popular  and  electoral 
vote  of  1880 : 


STATES. 

POPULAR  VOTE. 

ELECTORAL 
VOTE. 

James  A.  Garfield, 
Republican. 

Winfield  S.  Hancock, 
Democrat. 

James  B.  Weaver, 
Greenbacker. 

Neal  Dow, 
Prohibitionist. 

Garfield. 

Hancock. 

Alabama      

56,221 
4-,',  t:« 
80,848 
27,450 
67,071 
14,133 
83,65-1 
54,088 
818,087 
888,164 
183,927 
121,549 
108,808 
*  38,637 
74.039 
78,515 
165,205 

91,185 
60,775 
80,426 
24,647 
64,415 
15,275 
27,964 
102,470 
277,321 
225,522 
105,846 
59,801 
149,068 
65,061 
1  65,171 
<j:j.7<>; 
111,960 

4,642 
4,079 
3,392 
1,435 
868 
120 

969 
26,358 
18,986 

32,701 
19,851 
11,499 
439 
4,408 
818 
4,548 



3 
6 

21 
15 

11 

5 

7 
13 

10 
6 
5 

Arkansas                    

California 

Colorado          

409 

Delaware         ...          .... 

3 

4 
11 

Florida 

Georgia      

443 

592 
25 
258 

~93 

682 

Indiana                      

Kentucky 

12 
8 

8 

Louisiana  

Maine 

Maryland  

*  Two  Republican  tickets  were  voted  for. 

t  Votes  for  a  fusion  electoral  ticket,  made  up  of  three  Democrats  and  four 
Greenbackers.     A  "straight"  Greenback  ticket  was  also  voted  for. 

283 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


STATES. 

POPULAR  VOTE. 

ELECTORAL 
VOTE. 

James  A.  Garfield, 
Republican. 

Winfield  S.  Hancock, 
Democrat. 

James  B.  Weaver, 
Greenbacker. 

Neal  Dow, 
Prohibitionist. 

Garfield. 

Hancock. 

185,341 
93,903 
34,854 
153,567 
54,979 
8,732 
44,852 
120,555 
555,544 
115,874 
375,048 
20,619 
444,704 
18,195 
58,071 
107,677 
57,893 
45,567 
84,020 
46,243 
144,400 

131,597 
53,315 
75,750 
208,609 
28,523 
9,613 
40,794 
122,565 
534,511 
124,208 
340,811 
19,948 
407,428 
10,779 
112,312 
128,191 
156,428 
18,316 
*128.586 
57^391 
114,649 

34,895 
3,267 
5,797 
35,135 
3.950 

"528 
2,617 
12,373 
1,126 
6,456 
249 
20,668 
236 
566 
5,917 
27,405 
1,215 

9,079 
7,986 

942 

286 

180 
191 
1,517 

2,616 

1,939 
20 

43 
~~69 

11 
5 

— 

8 
15 

3 
9 

Missouri        

3 
5 

Nevada  

New  Hampshire  

New  York        

35 

22 
3 
29 

4 

10 

7 
12 
8 

Ohio                     .... 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode  Island 

South  Carolina  

Texas      

5 
10 

Virginia        

11 
5 

West  Virginia     

Total  

4,454,416 

4,444,952 

308,578 

10,305 

214 

155 

*  Two  Democratic  tickets  were  voted  for  in  Virginia.  The  regular  ticket 
received  96,912,  and  was  successful ;  the  u  Readjusters  "  polled  31,674  votes. 

Garfield  possessed  more  political  honors  at  one  time  than 
any  other  public  man  in  the  history  of  the  country.  After 
the  November  election  of  1880,  he  was  the  Congressman 
from  his  district ;  he  was  United  States  Senator-elect,  having 
been  chosen  by  the  Ohio  Legislature  in  January  of  the  same 
year,  and  he  was  President-elect.  He  had  many  elements 
of  popularity,  but  was  not  a  courageous  leader  like  Elaine. 
He  was  not  a  strong,  aggressive  man,  although  able  in 
debate  and  one  of  the  most  scholarly  of  our  public  men.  He 
had  a  most  difficult  role  to  fill  when  he  came  into  the 
Presidency.  Conkling  wholly  distrusted  him  when  Garfield 
was  first  nominated  for  President,  as  was  clearly  evidenced 
by  Conkling  failing  to  call  upon  Garfield  when  Garfield 
made  his  first  visit  to  New  York  after  the  Chicago  conven- 
tion, although  he  stopped  at  the  same  hotel  where  Conkling 

284 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

was  a  guest.  Later  in  the  campaign  Conkling  was  earnestly 
urged  to  visit  Garfield,  and  he  made  the  visit,  resulting  in 
the  Conkling  and  Grant  forces  earnestly  supporting  Gar- 
field's  election. 

General  Grant,  for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  took  the  stump 
to  aid  the  Garfield  cause ;  but  even  after  having  turned  the 
tide  in  favor  of  Garfield's  election,  Conkling  knew  that 
Garfield  was  not  a  self-reliant  leader,  and  after  the  appoint- 
ment of  Elaine  to  the  Cabinet,  with  whom  Conkling  had  no 
relations  whatever,  private  or  official,  Conkling  had  little 
confidence  in  Garfield  fulfilling  his  pledges  made  to  the 
friends  of  Grant.  The  open  breach  came  when  Garfield 
nominated  Robertson  for  Collector  of  New  York.  Robertson 
was  one  of  the  New  York  delegates  to  Chicago  who  voted 
against  Grant,  and  was  one  of  the  most  aggressive  anti- 
Conkling  men  in  the  State.  This  appointment  was  at  once 
charged  upon  Elaine,  but  the  evidence  is  conclusive  that  it 
was  made  by  Garfield  alone,  without  even  a  suggestion  from 
Elaine,  who  certainly  did  not  desire  to  precipitate  a  war 
between  the  administration  of  which  he  was  Premier  and 
so  formidable  a  political  factor  as  Conkling.  It  was  simply 
Garfield's  blunder,  made  in  haste,  and  it  proved  very  clearly 
that  he  was  not  equipped  to  meet  the  political  exigencies 
which  confronted  him.  Conkling  blundered  even  worse  than 
Garfield.  He  petulantly  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  in 
which  his  colleague,  Senator  Platt  (now  Senator  from  New 
York),  joined  him,  although  he  had  served  but  a  fraction 
of  a  year  of  his  full  term. 

Conkling  confidently  hoped  to  be  re-elected  by  the  New 
York  Legislature,  and  he  doubtless  would  have  succeeded 
had  not  the  presiding  officer  of  the  Senate,  by  a  very  shrewd 
and  simple  parliamentary  act,  postponed  the  election  a  week 
longer  than  Conkling  expected.  That  delay  was  fatal,  and 
a  protracted  and  humiliating  contest  was  made  by  Conkling 
and  Platt,  each  week  both  losing  prestige  and  support,  until 
finally  the  Republicans  of  the  New  York  Legislature  were 
compelled  to  cast  them  both  aside  and  elect  new  Senators. 
Vice- President  Arthur  stood  manfully  abreast  with  Conkling, 
his  friend,  in  his  battle  at  Albany  for  re-election,  but  after 
the  failure  on  the  1st  ballot  there  never  was  a  time  when  the 
re-election  of  Conkling  and  Platt  was  possible.  Conkling 
retired  from  politics  utterly  disgusted,  located  in  New 
York,  where  he  very  rapidly  acquired  a  lucrative  practice, 

285 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

and  his  tragic  death  from  exposure  in  the  great  blizzard  of 
1888  ended  the  career  of  one  of  the  ablest  of  the  statesmen 
of  his  day. 

Arthur  was  the  fourth  Vice-President  who  succeeded  to 
the  Presidency  by  the  death  of  the  President,  and  he  was 
the  second  whose  honors  had  come  to  him  by  the  assassina- 
tion of  his  chief.  The  accession  of  Arthur  created  very 
general  distrust  in  both  business  and  political  circles.  He 
was  little  known  beyond  his  factional  conflicts  in  New  York, 
having  been  removed  from  a  leading  Custom  House  office 
by  Secretary  Sherman.  That  removal  was  sustained  by  the 
Republican  Senate  in  defiance  of  the  power  of  Conkling. 
It  was  generally  assumed  that  the  administration  of  Arthur, 
under  the  lead  of  Conkling,  would  be  one  of  political  ven- 
geance, and  of  necessity  convulse  the  party  and  end  Repub- 
lican power  in  the  nation. 

Business  interests  were  disturbed  because  they  feared  that 
Arthur  would  be  a  political  President  with  little  exhibition 
of  statesmanship,  but  Arthur  rose  to  the  full  measure  of 
his  responsible  duties.  While  he  moved  with  great  caution, 
to  avoid  a  breach  with  his  own  friends,  he  soon  offended 
Conkling,  and  gradually  won  the  confidence  and  respect  of 
the  nation  to  an  extent  that  few  Presidents  have  enjoyed. 
The  Garfield  administration  had  been  started  on  lines  that 
Arthur  could  not  follow,  and  the  retirement  of  the  Garfield 
Cabinet,  with  the  exception  of  Robert  T.  Lincoln,  then 
Secretary  of  War,  was  soon  accomplished.  The  prosecution 
of  the  Star-Route  Postal  frauds  was  the  one  thing  on  which 
Elaine  and  MacVeagh,  the  Attorney-General,  had  decided 
to  make  a  creditable  record  for  the  administration,  and  while 
Arthur  was  quite  as  honest  as  Garfield,  political  necessities 
compelled  him  to  discourage  those  prosecutions.  Beyond 
that  there  was  not  a  blemish  on  his  administration  of  some 
three  years  and  a  half.  He  appreciated  the  fact  that  the 
President  should  be  above  the  rule  of  faction,  and  in  that 
he  early  offended  Conkling.  He  nominated  Conkling  as 
Supreme  Judge  of  the  United  States,  but  Conkling  peremp- 
torily rejected  it,  and  thenceforth  the  relations  between 
Arthur  and  Conkling  were  severely  strained. 

Arthur  was  the  one  of  the  four  Vice-Presidents  succeeding 
to  the  Presidency  who  did  not  change  the  policy  of  the 
administration.  He  gradually  won  the  esteem  of  all  parties 
in  the  land  by  his  dignity,  courtesy,  and  manliness  in  every 

286 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

emergency  that  confronted  him.  He  was  one  of  the  most 
genial  and  delightful  of  all  the  Presidents  who  occupied  the 
White  House,  and  he  would  doubtless  have  been  nominated 
for  President  in  1884  but  for  the  fact  that  Elaine  had  that 
honor  safely  mortgaged.  Arthur  was  desirous  of  a  nomina- 
tion, but  Elaine  was  so  strong  with  the  leaders  and  also  with 
the  rank  and  file  of  the  party  that  he  won  an  easy  victory 
over  the  President. 

The  opposition  to  Arthur  in  the  Republican  convention 
of  1884  was  not  inspired  by  hostility  to  him  or  to  his 
administration.  It  was  simply  the  overwhelming  Republican 
sentiment  of  the  country  that  demanded  Elaine  as  the  party 
candidate  for  President.  I  had  met  President  Arthur  fre- 
quently during  his  Presidential  term,  although  I  never  had 
any  political  or  personal  interests  to  serve.  It  was  always 
a  pleasure  to  call  upon  him  and  enjoy  the  dignified  and 
cordial  welcome  he  ever  gave  to  visitors.  I  last  saw  him 
on  the  night  of  the  Cleveland  inauguration  day,  that  closed 
his  Presidential  term.  He  was  the  guest  of  honor  at  a  dinner 
given  by  Senator  Cameron,  and  I  was  painfully  impressed 
with  what  I  then  assumed  to  be  the  keen  disappointment  of 
Arthur  at  his  retirement  from  the  Presidency.  He  seemed 
greatly  depressed  in  spirit  and  to  lack  his  usual  genial  and 
fascinating  qualities.  It  was  not  long  after,  however,  when 
it  became  known  that  he  had  retired  from  the  Presidential 
office  the  victim  of  a  fatal  disease,  that  exhausted  his  vitality. 
He  lived  a  very  quiet  life,  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him 
and  respected  by  the  whole  nation  during  the  brief  period 
between  his  retirement  and  his  death. 


THE  CLEVELAND-ELAINE  CONTEST 

1884 

THE  Presidential  campaign  of  1884  was  opened  on  June 
5  By  the  Republican  National  Convention  at  Chicago,  which 
nominated  Elaine  after  the  Arthur  administration  had  made 
a  feeble  struggle  against  him/  Strange  as  it  may  seem, 
Elaine  took  much  less  interest  in  his  nomination  at  that  time 
than  he  had  in  his  contests  of  1876  and  1880.  He  was  pain- 
fully impressed  by  the  conviction  that  he  was  fated  not  to 
be  President,  and  he  feared  his  defeat.  A  recent  article  by 
ex-Governor  Boutwell,  of  Massachusetts,  who  was  then  in 
Congress  with  Elaine,  stated  that  a  short  time  before  the 
meeting  of  the  convention,  when  Elaine  knew  that  the  nomi- 
nation was  within  his  own  hands,  he  told  Boutwell  that  he 
was  glad  to  have  some  votes  in  the  convention,  but  that  he 
did  not  wish  the  nomination.  He  desired  to  defeat  Presi- 
dent Arthur,  and  urged  Boutwell  to  organize  for  the  nomi- 
nation of  General  Sherman  for  President  and  Robert  Lin- 
coln for  Vice-President. 

I  saw  Elaine  frequently  during  the  months  preceding  the 
nomination,  and  he  never  exhibited  any  special  gratification 
at  the  fact  that  he  could  then,  for  the  first  time,  surely  attain 
the  leadership  in  his  party  for  which  he  had  so  long  strug- 
gled; but  he  had  not  the  courage  to  decline  it.  The  nomi- 
tion  came  to  him,  and  though  he  did  not  heartily  welcome  it, 
he  was  justly  proud  of  it. 

The  contest  between  Cleveland  and  Elaine  was  one  of  the 
most  spirited  and  earnest  of  our  national  political  struggles. 
The  assassination  of  Garfield  and  the  factional  troubles 
which  arose  under  Garfield,  and  continued  to  some  extent 
under  Arthur,  greatly  disturbed  Republican  tranquillity,  and 
in  1882  the  Democrats  won  all  the  debatable  States  and  car- 
ried the  popular  branch  of  Congress.  Grover  Cleveland  in 
that  year  became  a  national  political  factor  by  his  election  as 

288 


QROVER  CLEVELAND 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


Governor  of  New  York  by  nearly  200,000  majority.  Elaine 
had  the  vital  Republican  element  very  earnestly  in  his  sup- 
port, but  had  to  confront  the  implacable  opposition  of  many 
of  the  ablest  leaders  of  his  party.  He  had  already  been  a 
candidate  before  two  Republican  conventions,  in  which  his 
enemies  had  defamed  him  without  limit,  and  the  Grant  influ- 
ence was  as  vindictive,  although  not  so  powerful,  in  1884  as 


it  was  in  1876  and  1880. 


Republican  National  Convention  met  at  Chicago  on 
the  3d  of  June)  and  ex-Representative  John  R.  Lynch,  of 
Mississippi  (ccflored),  was  made  temporary  president,  and 
ex-Senator  John  B.  Henderson,  of  Missouri,  permanent 
president.  The  friends  of  President  Arthur,  largely  represent- 
ing Federal  officials,  made  a  very  earnest  battle  for  their 
chief,  but  it  was  a  Blaine  convention  from  start  to  finish. 
Many  questions  of  party  policy  and  rules  were  discussed 
and  a  platform  adopted  during  the  first  three  days  of  the 
convention,  and  it  was  not  until  the  evening  session  of  the 
third  day  that  Presidential  candidates  were  presented.  On 
the  morning  of  the  fourth  day,  the  convention  proceeded  to 
ballot,  resulting  in  the  nomination  of  Blaine,  as  follows : 


First. 

Second. 

Third. 

Fourth. 

[ames  G.  Blaine  of  Maine 

334^ 

349 

375 

541 

Chester  A.  Arthur,  of  New  York.  . 
jeorge  F.  Edmunds,  of  Vermont.  . 
[ohn  A.  Logan  of  Illinois 

278 
93 
63K 

276 
85 
61 

274 
69 
53 

207 
41 

7 

ohn  Sherman  of  Ohio. 

30 

28 

25 

oseph  R.  Hawley,  of  Connecticut 
Robert  T.  Lincoln,  of  Illinois  
William  T.  Sherman,  of  Missouri.. 

13 
4 
2 

13 
4 
2 

13 
8 
2 

15 
2 

The  nomination  of  Blaine  was  made  unanimous  with  great 
enthusiasm.  The  convention  then  adjourned  until  evening, 
when  General  John  A.  Logan,  of  Illinois,  was  nominated  for 
Vice-President  on  the  1st  ballot,  receiving  779  votes  to  7 
for  Lucius  Fairchild,  of  Wisconsin,  and  6  for  Walter  Q. 
Gresham,  of  Indiana.  General  Logan  was  regarded  as  one 
of  the  most  prominent  of  the  Grant  leaders,  and  it  was  con- 
sidered good  policy  to  unite  the  two  elements  of  the  party 
by  giving  him  second  place.  His  nomination  was  also  made 
unanimous,  and  cheered  to  the  echo.  The  following  plat- 
form was  unanimously  adopted : 

289 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

1.  The  Republicans  of  the  United  States,  in  national  convention 
assembled,  renew  their  allegiance  to  the  principles  upon  which  they 
have  triumphed  in   six  successive   Presidential   elections,   and  con- 
gratulate the  American  people  on  the  attainment  of  so  many  results 
in   legislation  and   administration  by  which   the   Republican  party 
has,  after  saving  the  Union,  done  so  much  to  render  its  institutions 
just,  equal,  and  beneficent,  the  safeguard  of  liberty,  and  the  embodi- 
ment of  the  best  thought  and  highest  purposes  of  our  citizens.    The 
Republican  party  has  gained  its  strength  by    quick    and    faithful 
response  to  the  demands  of  the  people  for  the  freedom  and  equality 
of  all  men ;  for  a  united  nation,  assuring  the  rights  of  all  citizens ; 
for  the  elevation  of  labor;  for  an  honest  currency;  for  purity  in 
legislation;  and  for  integrity  and  accountability  in  all  departments 
of  the  Government.    And   it  accepts  anew  the  duty  of  leading   in 
the  work  of  progress  and  reform. 

2.  We  lament  the  death  of  President  Garfield,  whose  sound  states- 
manship, long  conspicuous  in  Congress,  gave  promise  of  a  strong 
and  successful  administration,  a  promise  fully  realized  during  the 
short  period  of  his  office  as  President  of  the  United  States.      His 
distinguished  services  in  war  and  in  peace  have  endeared  him  to 
the  hearts  of  the  A.merican  people. 

3.  In   the    administration    of    President   Arthur    we    recognize    a 
wise,  conservative,  and  patriotic  policy,   under  which  the  country 
has  been  blessed  with  remarkable  prosperity;    and  we  believe  his 
eminent  services  are  entitled  to  and  will  receive  the  hearty  appro- 
val of  every  good  citizen. 

4.  It  is  the  first  duty  of  a  good  Government  to  protect  the  rights 
and  promote  the  interests  of  its  own  people.     The  largest  diversity 
of  industry  is  most  productive  of  general  prosperity  and  of  the  com- 
fort and  independence  of  the  people.     We  therefore  demand  that 
the  imposition  of  duties  on  foreign  imports  shall  be  made,  not  for 
revenue  only,  but  that,  in  raising  the  requisite  revenues  for  the  Gov- 
ernment, such  duties  shall  be  so  levied  as  to  afford  security  to  our 
diversified  industries  and  protection  to  the  rights  and  wages  of  the 
laborers,  to  the  end  that  active  and  intelligent  labor,  as  well  as  capi- 
tal, may  have  its  just  reward,  and  the  laboring  man  his  full  share 
in  the  national  prosperity. 

5.  Against   the   so-called   economical    system   of   the   Democratic 
party,  which  would  degrade  our  labor  to  the  foreign  standard,  we 
enter  our  most  earnest  protest.     The  Democratic  party  has  failed 
completely  to  relieve  the  people  of  the  burden  of  unnecessary  taxa- 
tion by  a  wise  reduction  of  the  surplus. 

6.  The  Republican  party  pledges  itself  to  correct  the  irregulari- 
ties of  the  tariff  and  to  reduce  the  surplus,  not  by  the  vicious  and 
indiscriminate  process  of  horizontal  reduction,  but  by  such  methods 
as  will  relieve  the  taxpayer  without  injuring  the  laborer  or  the  great 
productive  interests  of  the  country. 

7.  We  recognize  the  importance  of  sheep  husbandry  in  the  United 
States,   the   serious  depression   which   it  is  now   experiencing,   and 
the    danger    threatening  its  future    prosperity;    and    we    therefore 
respect  the  demands  of  the  Representatives  of  this  important  agri- 
cultural  interest  for  a  readjustment  of  duties  upon  foreign  wool, 
in  order  that  such  industry  shall  have  full  and  adequate  protection. 

8.  We  have  aways  recommended  the  best  money  known  to  the 

290 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

civilized  world,  and  we  urge  that  an  effort  be  made  to  unite  all  com- 
mercial nations  in  the  establishment  of  an  international  standard 
which  shall  fix  for  all  the  relative  value  of  gold  and  silver  coinage. 

9.  The  regulation  of  commerce  with  foreign  nations  and  between 
the  States  is  one  of  the  most  important  prerogatives  of  the  General 
Government,  and  the  Republican  party  distinctly  announces  its  pur- 
pose to  support  such  legislation  as  will  fully  and  efficiently  carry 
out   the   constitutional   power   of   Congress    over    interstate    com- 
merce. 

10.  The  principle  of  the   public   regulation   of  railway   corpora- 
tions is  a  wise  and  salutary  one  for  the  protection  of  all  classes  of 
the  people,  and  we  favor  legislation  that  shall  prevent  unjust  dis- 
crimination and  excessive  charges  for  transportation,  and  that  shall 
secure  to  the  people  and  to  the  railways  alike  the  fair  and  equal  pro- 
tection of  the  laws. 

11.  We  favor  the  establishment  of  a  national  bureau  of  labor; 
the  enforcement  of  the  eight-hour  law;  a  wise  and  judicious  system 
of  general   education  by  adequate  appropriation  from  the  national 
revenues  wherever  the  same  is  needed.    We  believe  that  everywhere 
the   protection   of  a   citizen   of   American  birth  must  be  secured  to 
citizens  by  American  adoption,  and  we  favor  the  settlement  of  na- 
tional differences  by  international  arbitration. 

12.  The  Republican  party,  having  its  birth  in  a  hatred  of  slave 
labor,  and  in  a  desire  that  all  men  may  be  truly  free  and  equal,  is 
unalterably  opposed  to  placing  our  workingmen  in  competition  with 
any  form  of  servile  labor,  whether  at  home  or  abroad.    In  this  spirit 
we  denounce  the  importation  of  contract  labor,  whether  from  Europe 
or  Asia,  as  an  offence  against  the  spirit  of  American  institutions, 
and    we    pledge    ourselves    to    sustain  the  present  law  restricting 
Chinese  immigration,  and  to  provide  such  further  legislation  as  is 
necessary  to  carry  out  its  purposes. 

13.  Reform   of  the  civil   service,   auspiciously  begun   under   Re- 
publican administration,  should  be  completed  by  the  further  exten- 
sion of  the  reformed  system  already  established  by  law  to  all  the 
grades  of  the  service  to  which  it  is  applicable.     The  spirit  and  pur- 
pose of  the  reform  should  be  observed   in   all   executive   appoint- 
ments, and  all  laws  at  variance  with  the  objects  of  existing  reformed 
legislation  should  be  repealed,  to  the  end  that  the  dangers  to  free 
institutions  which  lurk  in  the  power  of  official  patronage  may  be 
wisely  and  effectively  avoided. 

14.  The  public  lands  are  a  heritage  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  and  should  be  reserved,  as  far  as  possible,  for  small  holdings 
by  actual  settlers.    We  are  opposed  to  the  acquisition  of  large  tracts 
of  these  lands  by  corporations  or  individuals,  especially  where  'such 
holdings  are  in  the  hands  of  non-resident  aliens,  and  we  will  en- 
deavor to  obtain  such  legislation  as  will  tend  to  correct  this  evil. 
We  demand  of  Congress  the  speedy  forfeiture  of  all  land-grants 
which  have  lapsed  by  reason  of  non-compliance  with  acts  of  incor- 
poration, in  all  cases  where  there  has  been  no  attempt  in  good  faith 
to  perform  the  conditions  of  such  grants. 

15.  The  grateful  thanks  of  the  American  people  are  due  to  the 
Union  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  late  war;    and  the  Republican 
party  stands  pledged  to  suitable  pensions  for  all  who  were  disabled, 
and  for  the  widows  and  orphans  of  those  who  died  in  the  war.    The 

29I 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Republican  party  also  pledges  itself  to  the  repeal  of  the  limitation 
contained  in  the  Arrears  act  of  1879,  so  that  all  invalid  soldiers 
shall  share  alike,  and  their  pensions  begin  with  the  date  of  disa- 
bility, and  not  with  the  date  of  the  application. 

16.  The   Republican   party   favors   a   policy   which   shall   keep   us 
from  entangling  alliances  with  foreign  nations,  and  which  gives  us 
the  right  to  expect  that  foreign  nations  shall  refrain  from  meddling 
in  American  affairs — the  policy  which  seeks  peace  and  trade  with 
all  powers,  but  especially  with  those  of  the  Western  Hemisphere. 

17.  We    demand    the    restoration    of    our    navy    to    its    old-time 
strength  and  efficiency,  that  it  may  in  any  sea  protect  the  rights  of 
American  citizens  and  the  interests  of  American  commerce.     We 
call  upon  Congress  to  remove  the  burdens  under  which  American 
shipping  has  been  depressed,  so  that  it  may  again  be  true  that  we 
have  a  commerce  which  leaves  no  sea  unexplored,  and  a  navy  which 
takes  no  law  from  superior  force. 

18.  That  appointments  by  the  President  to  offices  in  the  Terri- 
tories should  be  made  from  the  bona  fide  citizens  and  residents  of 
the  Territories  wherein  they  are  to  serve. 

19.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress  to  enact  such  laws  as  shall 
promptly  and  effectually  suppress  the  system  of  polygamy  within 
our  Territories,  and  divorce  the  political    from    the    ecclesiastical 
power  of  the  so-called  Mormon  Church,  and  that  the  law  so  enacted 
should  be  rigidly  enforced  by  the  civil  authorities,  if  possible,  and 
by  the  military,  if  need  be. 

20.  The  people  of  the  United  States,  in  their  organized  capacity, 
constitute  a  nation,  and  not  a  mere  confederacy  of   States.     The 
National  Government  is  supreme  within  the  sphere  of  its  national 
duties,  but  the  States  have  reserved  rights  which  should  be  faith- 
fully maintained,  and  which  should  be  guarded  with  jealous  care, 
so  that  the  harmony  of  our  system  of  government  may  be  pre- 
served and  the  Union  kept  inviolate. 

21.  The  perpetuity  of  our  institutions  rests  upon  the  maintenance 
of  a  free  ballot,  an  honest  count,  and  correct  return.    We  denounce 
the    fraud    and    violence  practised  by  the  Democracy  in  Southern 
States,  by  which  the  will  of  the  voter  is  defeated,  as  dangerous  to 
the  preservation  of  free  institutions;    and  we  solemnly  arraign  the 
Democratic  party  as  being  the  guilty  recipient  of  the  fruits  of  such 
fraud  and  violence. 

22.  We  extend   to  the   Republicans  of  the   South,  regardless   of 
their  former  party  affiliations,  our  cordial  sympathy,  and  pledge  to 
them  our  most  earnest  efforts  to  promote  the  passage  of  such  legis- 
lation as  will  secure  to  every  citizen,  of  whatever  race  and  color, 
the  full  and  complete  recognition,  possession,  and  exercise  of  all 
civil  and  political  rights. 

(The  Democratic  National  Convention  met  at  Chicago  on 
theSth  of  July,  and  was  temporarily  organized  with  Richard 
D.  Hubbard,  of  Texas,  as  chairman^  The  first  day  of  the 
convention  was  unusually  boisterous,-  The  Tammany  dele- 
gates, under  the  lead  of  John  Kelly,  were  in  a  minority  in  the 
delegation,  and  under  the  Democratic  unit  rule  their  votes 

292 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

would  be  cast  for  Cleveland,  to  whose  nomination  they  were 
bitterly  opposed.  A  desperate  struggle  was  made  to  break 
the  unit  rule,  and  thus  release  Tammany  from  the  support 
of  Cleveland.  The  proposition  was  very  largely  defeated, 
and  during  the  balloting  the  Tammany  people  made  various 
and  ineffectual  efforts  to  have  their  votes  recorded.  On  the 
morning  of  the  second  day,  William  F.  Vilas,  of  Wisconsin, 
was  made  permanent  president,  and  the  presentation  of  can- 
didates for  President  followed,  after  which  the  platform  was 
adopted  and  one  ballot  had  for  President,  and  on  the  follow- 
ing morning  the  2d  ballot  was  had,  resulting  in  the  selec- 
tion of  Cleveland. 

Cleveland's  nomination  was  accomplished  solely  by  the 
earnest  and  skilful  management  of  his  cause  by  Daniel 
Manning,  who  was  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  during  half  of 
Cleveland's  first  administration.  Cleveland  was  a  reluctant 
candidate,  for  he  was  not  confident  that  he  could  be  nomi- 
nated, and  doubted  if  he  could  be  elected  if  nominated ;  but 
Manning  gathered  about  him  a  very  powerful  organization, 
and  under  the  unit  rule  carried  the  New  York  delegation 
solid  for  Cleveland,  though  Tammany,  under  the  lead  of 
John  Kelly,  stoutly  opposed  him. 

Randall  had  been  named  as  the  candidate  for  President  by 
Pennsylvania,  and  had  a  delegation  strongly  committed  to 
his  support.  I  was  present  at  the  conferences  of  Randall's 
friends,  and  it  became  evident  at  an  early  stage  of  the  battle 
that  Randall's  nomination  was  not  within  the  range  of  possi- 
bility. His  pronounced  protection  views  made  him  ineligi- 
ble. Ex-Attorney-General  William  U.  Hensel  was  there, 
and  was  actively  enlisted  in  the  Randall  cause.  When  the 
defeat  of  Randall  became  clearly  inevitable  Hensel  and  I 
had  a  conference  with  Manning,  and  after  a  careful  review 
of  the  situation  it  became  apparent  that  Cleveland  could  be 
nominated  with  the  aid  of  Randall's  friends.  We  made  no 
suggestions  to  Manning  as  to  conditions,  but  told  him  that 
we  would  telegraph  for  Randall  and  have  him  there  the  next 
morning  early,  so  that  he  and  Randall  could  confer  alone. 
Hensel  and  I  telegraphed  Randall  urgently  requesting  him 
to  take  the  first  train  for  Chicago.  He  arrived  the  next 
morning,  was  brought  directly  by  Mr.  Hensel  to  my  room, 
where  Mr.  Manning  was  in  waiting,  and  Hensel  and  I  went 
to  breakfast. 

No  one   but  Mr.  Hensel  and   myself   knew  of   Randall's 

293 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 


arrival,  but  within  half  an  hour  after  he  and  Manning  had 
met  word  was  passed  from  Randall  himself  for  his  friends  to 
support  Cleveland.  That  settled  the  contest  in  Cleveland's 
favor.  Tammany  protested,  but  the  Tammany  vote  was  cast 
for  Cleveland  all  the  same  under  the  unit  rule  that  the  New 
York  Democrats  have  always  maintained. 

The  following  are  the  ballots  for  President  in  detail : 


First. 

Second. 

Grover  Cleveland,  of  New  York  

392 

683 

Thomas  F.  Bayard,  of  Delaware  

170 

811^ 

Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  of  Indiana  

145^ 

Allen  G.  Thurman,  of  Ohio  . 

88 

Samuel  J.  Randall,  of  Pennsylvania  
Joseph  E.  McDonald,  of  Indiana  

78 
56 

4 

2 

John  G.  Carlisle,  of  Kentucky  

27 

Roswell  P.  Flower,  of  New  York  

4 

George  Hoadly,  of  Ohio 

3 

Samuel  J.  Tilden,  of  New  York 

1 

Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  of  Indiana,  upon  whom  the  oppo- 
sition to  Cleveland  had  largely  united  on  the  2d  ballot 
for  President,  was  unanimously  nominated  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent.  On  a  motion  to  make  the  nomination  of  Cleveland 
unanimous,  vigorous  "  nos  "  came  up,  especially  from  the 
Tammany  Hall  delegates,  but  the  nomination  of  Hendricks 
was  welcomed  with  the  heartiest  cheers.  The  following  is 
the  Democratic  platform  as  adopted  in  1884: 

The  Democratic  party  of  the  Union,  through  its  representatives 
in  national  convention  assembled,  recognizes  that,  as  the  nation 
grows  older,  new  issues  are  born  of  time  and  progress,  and  old  issues 
perish ;  but  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  Democracy,  approved 
by  the  united  voice  of  the  people,  remain  and  will  ever  remain,  as 
the  best  and  only  security  for  the  continuance  of  free  government. 
The  preservation  of  personal  rights,  the  equality  of  all  citizens  be- 
fore the  law,  the  reserved  rights  of  the  States,  and  the  supremacy 
of  the  Federal  Government  within  the  limits  of  the  Constitution, 
will  ever  form  the  true  basis  of  our  liberties,  and  can  never  be  sur- 
rendered without  destroying  that  balance  of  rights  and  powers  which 
enables  a  continent  to  be  developed  in  peace,  and  social  order  to 
be  maintained  by  means  of  local  self-government.  But  it  is  indis- 
pensable for  the  practicable  application  and  enforcement  of  these 
fundamental  principles  that  the  Government  should  not  always  be 
controlled  by  one  political  party.  Frequent  change  of  administra- 

294 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

tion  is  as  necessary  as  constant  recurrence  to  the  popular  will. 
Otherwise,  abuses  grow"  and  the  Government,  instead  of  being 
carried  on  for  the  general  welfare,  becomes  an  instrumentality  for 
imposing  heavy  burdens  on  the  many  who  are  governed,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  few  who  govern.  Public  servants  thus  become  arbi- 
trary rulers.  This  is  now  the  condition  of  the  country;  hence  a 
change  is  demanded. 

The  Republican  party,  so  far  as  principle  is  concerned,  is  a 
reminiscence.  In  practice  it  is  an  organization  for  enriching  those 
who  control  its  machinery.  The  frauds  and  jobbery  which  have 
been  brought  to  light  in  every  department  of  the  Government  are 
sufficient  to  have  called  for  reform  within  the  Republican  party; 
yet  those  in  authority,  made  reckless  by  the  long  possession  of 
power,  have  succumbed  to  its  corrupting  influence,  and  have 
placed  in  nomination  a  ticket  against  which  the  independent  por- 
tion of  the  party  are  in  open  revolt.  Therefore  a  change  is  de- 
manded. Such  a  change  was  alike  necessary  in  1876,  but  the  will  of 
the  people  was  then  defeated  by  a  fraud  which  can  never  be  forgotten 
nor  condoned.  Again,  in  1880,  the  change  demanded  by  the  people 
was  defeated  by  the  lavish  use  of  money  contributed  by  unscrupu- 
lous contractors  and  shameless  jobbers,  who  had  bargained  for 
unlawful  profits  or  high  office.  The  Republican  party,  during  its 
legal,  its  stolen,  and  its  bought  tenures  of  power,  has  steadily  de- 
cayed in  moral  character  and  political  capacity.  Its  platform  prom- 
ises are  now  a  list  of  its  past  failures.  It  demands  the  restoration 
of  our  navy;  it  has  squandered  hundreds  of  millions  to  create  a 
navy  that  does  not  exist.  It  calls  upon  Congress  to  remove  the 
burdens  under  which  American  shipping  has  been  depressed ;  it 
imposed  and  has  continued  these  burdens.  It  professes  the  policy 
of  reserving  the  public  lands  for  small  holdings  by  actual  settlers ; 
it  has  given  away  the  people's  heritage,  till  now  a  few  railroads  and 
non-resident  aliens,  individual  and  corporate,  possess  a  larger  area 
than  that  of  all  our  farms  between  the  two  seas.  It  professes  a 
preference  for  free  institiAions ;  it  organized  and  tried  to  legalize  a 
control  of  State  elections  by  Federal  troops.  It  professes  a  desire 
to  elevate  labor;  it  subjected  American  working-men  to  the  com- 
petition of  convict  and  imported  contract  labor.  It  professes 
gratitude  to  all  who  were  disabled  or  died  in  the  war,  leaving 
widows  and  orphans;  it  left  to  a  Democratic  House  of  Representa- 
tives the  first  effort  to  equalize  both  bounties  and  pensions.  It 
professes  a  pledge  to  correct  the  irregularities  of  our  tariff;  it 
created  and  has  continued  them.  Its  own  tariff  commission  con- 
fessed the  need  of  more  than  twenty  per  cent,  reduction ;  its  Con- 
gress gave  a  reduction  of  less  than  four  per  cent.  It  professes  the 
protection  of  American  manufactures;  it  has  subjected  them  to  an 
increasing  flood  of  manufactured  goods  and  a  hopeless  competition 
with  manufacturing  nations,  not  one  of  which  taxes  raw  materials. 
It  professes  to  protect  all  American  industries;  it  has  impoverished 
many,  to  subsidize  a  few.  It  professes  the  protection  of  American 
labor ;  it  has  depleted  the  returns  of  American  agriculture,  an  in- 
dustry followed  by  half  our  people.  It  professes  the  equality  of  all 
men  before  the  law,  attempting  to  fix  the  status  of  colored  citizens ; 
the  acts  of  its  Congress  were  overset  by  the  decisions  of  its  courts. 
It  "  accepts  anew  the  duty  of  leading  in  the  work  of  progress  and 

295 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

reform;"  its  caught  criminals  are  permitted  to  escape  through  con- 
trived delays  or  actual  connivance  in  the  prosecution.  Honeycombed 
with  corruption,  outbreaking  exposures  no  longer  shock  its  moral 
sense.  Its  honest  members,  its  independent  journals,  no  longer 
maintain  a  successful  contest  for  authority  in  its  canvasses  or  a 
veto  upon  bad  nominations.  That  change  is  necessary  is  proved 
by  an  existing  surplus  of  more  than  $100,000,000,  which  has  yearly 
been  collected  from  a  suffering  people.  Unnecessary  taxation  is 
unjust  taxation.  We  denounce  the  Republican  party  for  having 
failed  to  relieve  the  people  from  crushing  war  taxes,  which  have 
paralyzed  business,  crippled  industry,  and  deprived  labor  of  employ- 
ment and  of  just  reward. 

The  Democracy  pledges  itself  to  purify  the  administration  from 
corruption,  to  restore  economy,  to  revive  respect  for  law,  and  to 
reduce  taxation  to  the  lowest  limit  consistent  with  due  regard  to 
the  preservation  of  the  faith  of  the  nation  to  its  creditors  and  pen- 
sioners. Knowing  full  well,  however,  that  legislation  affecting  the 
occupations  of  the  people  should  be  cautious  and  conservative  in 
method,  not  in  advance  of  public  opinion,  but  responsive  to  its  de- 
mands, the  Democratic  party  is  pledged  to  revise  the  tariff  in  a 
spirit  of  fairness  to  all  interests.  But,  in  making  reduction  in  taxes, 
it  is  not  proposed  to  injure  any  domestic  industries,  but  rather  to 
promote  their  healthy  growth.  From  the  foundation  of  this  Gov- 
ernment, taxes  collected  at  the  custom  house  have  been  the  chief 
source  of  Federal  revenue.  Such  they  must  continue  to  be.  More- 
over, many  industries  have  come  to  rely  upon  legislation  for  suc- 
cessful continuance,  so  that  any  change  of  law  must  be  at  every 
step  regardful  of  the  labor  and  capital  thus  involved.  The  process 
of  reform  must  be  subject  in  the  execution  to  this  plain  dictate  of 
justice:  all  taxation  shall  be  limited  to  the  requirements  of  econom- 
ical government.  The  necessary  reduction  in  taxation  can  and 
must  be  effected  without  depriving  American  labor  of  the  ability  to 
compete  successfully  with  foreign  labor,  and  without  imposing  lower 
rates  of  duty  than  will  be  ample  to  cover  any  increased  cost  of 
production  which  may  exist  in  consequence  of  the  higher  rate  of 
wages  prevailing  in  this  country.  Sufficient  revenue  to  pay  all  the 
expenses  of  the  Federal  Government,  economically  administered, 
including  pensions,  interest  and  principal  of  the  public  debt,  can 
be  got  under  our  present  system  of  taxation  from  custom-house 
taxes  on  fewer  imported  articles,  bearing  heaviest  on  articles  of 
luxury,  and  bearing  lightest  on  articles  of  necessity.  We  therefore 
denounce  the  abuses  of  the  existing  tariff;  and,  subject  to  the  pre- 
ceding limitations,  we  demand  that  Federal  taxation  shall  be  exclu- 
sively for  public  purposes,  and  shall  not  exceed  the  needs  of  the 
Government  economically  administered. 

The  system  of  direct  taxation,  known  as  the  "  internal  revenue," 
is  a  war  tax,  and,  so  long  as  the  law  continues,  the  money  de- 
rived therefrom  should  be  sacredly  devoted  to  the  relief  of  the 
people  from  the  remaining  burdens  of  the  war,  and  be  made  a  fund 
to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  care  and  comfort  of  worthy  soldiers 
disabled  in  the  line  of  duty  in  the  wars  of  the  Republic,  and  for  the 
payment  of  such  pensions  as  Congress  may  from  time  to  time  grant 
to  such  soldiers,  a  like  fund  for  the  sailors  having  been  already 
provided ;  and  any  surplus  should  be  paid  into  the  Treasury. 

296 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

We  favor  an  American  continental  policy,  based  upon  more  inti- 
mate commercial  and  political  relations  with  the  fifteen  sister  re- 
publics of  North,  Central,  and  South  America,  but  entangling  alli- 
ances with  none. 

We  believe  in  honest  money,  the  gold  and  silver  coinage  of  the 
Constitution,  and  a  circulating  medium  convertible  into  such 
money  without  loss. 

Asserting  the  equality  of  all  men  before  the  law,  we  hold  that 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  Government,  in  its  dealings  with  the  people,  to 
mete  out  equal  and  exact  justice  to  all  citizens,  of  whatever  nativ- 
ity, race,  color,  or  persuasion,  religious  or  political. 

We  believe  in  a  free  ballot  and  a  fair  count ;  and  we  recall  to  the 
memory  of  our  people  the  noble  struggle  of  the  Democrats  in  the 
Forty-fifth  and  Forty-sixth  Congresses,  by  which  a  reluctant  Repub- 
lican opposition  was  compelled  to  assent  to  legislation  making 
everywhere  illegal  the  presence  of  troops  at  the  polls  as  the  con- 
clusive proof  that  a  Democratic  administration  will  preserve  liberty 
with  order. 

The  selection  of  Federal  officers  for  the  Territories  should  be 
restricted  to  citizens  previously  resident  therein. 

We  oppose  sumptuary  laws,  which  vex  the  citizens  and  interfere 
with  individual  liberty. 

We  favor  honest  civil  service  reforms  and  the  compensation  of 
all  United  States  officers  by  fixed  salaries,  the  separation  of  Church 
and  State,  and  the  diffusion  of  free  education  by  common  schools, 
so  that  every  child  in  the  land  may  be  taught  the  rights  and  duties 
of  citizenship. 

While  we  favor  all  legislation  which  will  tend  to  the  equitable 
distribution  of  property,  to  the  prevention  of  monopoly,  and  to  the 
strict  enforcement  of  individual  rights  against  corporate  abuses, 
we  hold  that  the  welfare  of  society  depends  upon  a  scrupulous  regard 
for  the  rights  of  property  as  defined  by  law. 

We  believe  that  labor  is  best  rewarded  where  it  is  freest  and 
most  enlightened.  It  should,  therefore,  be  fostered  and  cherished. 
We  favor  the  repeal  of  all  laws  restricting  the  free  action  of  labor, 
and  the  enactment  of  laws  by  which  labor  organizations  may  be 
incorporated,  and  of  such  legislation  as  will  tend  to  enlighten  the 
people  as  to  the  true  relation  of  capital  and  labor. 

We  believe  that  the  public  land  ought,  as  far  as  possible,  to  be 
kept  as  homesteads  for  actual  settlers;  that  all  unearned  lands 
heretofore  improvidently  granted  to  railroad  corporations  by  the 
action  of  the  Republican  party  should  be  restored  to  the  public 
domain,  and  that  no  more  grants  of  land  shall  be  made  to  corpora- 
tions or  be  allowed  to  fall  into  the  ownership  of  alien  absentees. 

We  are  opposed  to  all  propositions  which,  upon  any  pretext, 
would  convert  the  General  Government  into  a  machine  for  collect- 
ing taxes  to  be  distributed  among  the  States  or  the  citizens  thereof. 

In  reaffirming  the  declaration  of  the  Democratic  platform  of  1856, 
that  "  the  liberal  principles  embodied  by  Jefferson  in  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  and  sanctioned  in  the  Constitution,  which 
makes  ours  the  land  of  liberty  and  the  asylum  of  the  oppressed 
of  every  nation,  have  ever  been  cardinal  principles  in  the  Demo- 
cratic faith,"  we  nevertheless  do  not  sanction  the  importation  of 
foreign  labor  or  the  admission  of  servile  races,  unfitted  by  habits, 

297 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

training,  religion,  or  kindred,  for  absorption  into  the  great  body  of 
our  people,  or  for  the  citizenship  which  our  laws  confer.  Ameri- 
can civilization  demands  that  against  the  immigration  or  importa- 
tion of  Mongolians  to  these  shores  our  gates  be  closed. 

The  Democratic  party  insists  that  it  is  the  duty  of  this  Govern- 
ment to  protect  with  equal  fidelity  and  vigilance  the  rights  of  its 
citizens,  native  and  naturalized,  at  home  and  abroad ;  and,  to  the 
end  that  this  protection  may  be  assured,  United  States  papers  of 
naturalization,  issued  by  courts  of  competent  jurisdiction,  must  be 
respected  by  the  executive  and  legislative  departments  of  our  own 
Government  and  by  all  foreign  powers.  It  is  an  imperative  duty  of 
this  Government  to  efficiently  protect  all  the  rights  of  persons  and 
property  of  every  American  citizen  in  foreign  lands,  and  demand 
and  enforce  full  reparation  for  any  invasion  thereof.  An  American 
citizen  is  only  responsible  to  his  own  Government  for  any  act  done 
in  his  own  country  or  under  her  flag,  and  can  only  be  tried  therefor 
on  her  own  soil  and  according  to  her  laws ;  and  no  power  exists  in 
this  Government  to  expatriate  an  American  citizen  to  be  tried  in 
any  foreign  land  for  any  such  act. 

This  country  has  never  had  a  well-defined  and  executed  foreign 
policy,  save  under  Democratic  administration.  That  policy  has 
ever  been  in  regard  to  foreign  nations,  so  long  as  they  do  no  act 
detrimental  to  the  interests  of  the  country,  or  hurtful  to  our  citi- 
zens, to  let  them  alone.  As  the  result  of  this  policy,  we  recall  the 
acquisition  of  Louisiana,  Florida,  California  and  the  adjacent  Mexi- 
can Territory  by  purchase  alone,  and  contrast  these  grand  acquisi- 
tions of  Democratic  statesmanship  with  the  purchase  of  Alaska, 
the  sole  fruit  of  a  Republican  administration  of  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  century. 

The  Federal  Government  should  care  for  and  improve  the  Mis- 
sissippi River  and  other  great  waterways  of  the  Republic,  so  as  to 
secure  for  the  interior  States  easy  and  cheap  transportation  to  tide 
water. 

Under  a  long  period  of  Democratic  rule  and  policy,  our  mer- 
chant marine  was  fast  overtaking  and  on  the  point  of  outstripping 
that  of  Great  Britain.  Under  twenty  years  of  Republican  rule  and 
policy,  our  commerce  has  been  left  to  British  bottoms,  and  the 
American  flag  has  almost  been  swept  off  the  high  seas.  Instead  of 
the  Republican  party's  British  policy,  we  demand  for  the  people  of 
the  United  States  an  American  policy.  Under  Democratic  rule 
and  policy,  our  merchants  and  sailors,  flying  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
in  every  port,  successfully  searched  out  a  market  for  the  various 
products  of  American  industry;  under  a  quarter  of  a  century  of 
Republican  rule  and  policy,  despite  our  manifest  advantages  over 
all  other  nations,  in  high  paid  labor,  favorable  climates,  and  teem- 
ing soils ;  despite  freedom  of  trade  among  all  these  United  States ; 
despite  their  population  by  the  foremost  races  of  men,  and  an 
annual  immigration  of  the  young,  thrifty,  and  adventurous  of  all 
nations;  despite  our  freedom  here  from  the  inherited  burdens  of 
life  and  industry  in  Old  World  monarchies,  their  costly  war  navies, 
their  vast  tax-consuming,  non-producing  standing  armies ;  despite 
twenty  years  of  peace — that  Republican  rule  and  policy  have  man- 
aged to  surrender  to  Great  Britain,  along  with  our  commerce,  the 
control  of  the  markets  of  the  world.  Instead  of  the  Republican 

298 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

party's  British  policy,  we  demand,  in  behalf  of  the  American  Democ- 
racy, an  American  policy.  Instead  of  the  Republican  party's  dis- 
credited scheme  and  false  pretence  of  friendship  for  American  labor, 
expressed  by  imposing  taxes,  we  demand,  in  behalf  of  the  Democ- 
racy, freedom  for  American  labor  by  reducing  taxes,  to  the  end 
that  these  United  States  may  compete  with  unhindered  powers  for 
the  primacy  among  nations  in  all  the  arts  of  peace  and  fruits  of 
liberty. 

With  profound  regret  we  have  been  apprised  by  the  venerable 
statesman,  through  whose  person  was  struck  that  blow  at  the  vital 
principles  of  republics,  acquiescence  in  the  will  of  the  majority,  that 
he  cannot  permit  us  again  to  place  in  his  hands  the  leadership  of 
the  Democratic  hosts,  for  the  reason  that  the  achievement  of  reform 
in  the  administration  of  the  Federal  Government  is  an  undertaking 
now  too  heavy  for  his  age  and  failing  strength.  Rejoicing  that 
his  life  has  been  prolonged  until  the  general  judgment  of  our  fellow- 
countrymen  is  united  in  the  wish  that  that  wrong  were  righted  in 
his  person,  for  the  Democracy  of  the  United  States  we  offer  to 
him,  in  his  withdrawal  from  public  cares,  not  only  our  respectful 
sympathy  and  esteem,  but  also  that  best  of  homage  of  freemen — 
the  pledge  of  our  devotion  to  the  principles  and  the  cause  now 
inseparable  in  the  history  of  this  Republic  from  the  labors  and 
the  name  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden. 

With  this  statement  of  the  hopes,  principles  and  purposes  of  the 
Democratic  party,  the  great  issue  of  reform  and  change  in  adminis- 
tration is  submitted  to  the  people,  in  calm  confidence  that  the  pop- 
ular voice  will  pronounce  in  favor  of  new  men  and  new  and  more 
favorable  conditions  for  the  growth  of  industry,  the  extension  of 
trade  and  employment  and  due  reward  of  labor  and  of  capital,  and 
the  general  welfare  of  the  whole  country. 

The  campaign  of  1884  gave  birth  to  the  Anti-Monopoly 
party,  that  held  its  national  convention  at  Chicago  on  the 
1 4th  of  May,  with  John  F.  Henry  as  permanent  president. 
General  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  of  Massachusetts,  was  nomi- 
nated as  the  candidate  for  President  on  the  1st  ballot,  receiv- 
ing 122  votes  to  7  for  Allen  G.  Thurman,  of  Ohio,  and  I  for 
Solon  Chase,  of  Maine.  No  nomination  for  Vice-President 
was  made.  The  National  Committee  later  nominated  A.  M. 
West,  of  Mississippi,  for  that  office.  The  following  plat- 
form was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  85  to  29 : 

The  Anti-Monopoly  organization  of  the  United  States,  in  con- 
vention assembled,  declares: 

1.  That    labor    and    capital    should    be    allies;    and    we    demand 
justice  for  both  by  protecting  the  rights  of  all  against  privileges 
for  the  few. 

2.  That  corporations,  the  creatures  of  law,  should  be  controlled 
by  law. 

3.  That  we  propose  the  greatest  reduction  practicable  in  public 
expenses. 

4.  That   in   the  enactment  and  vigorous  execution  of  just  laws, 

299 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

equality  of  rights,  equality  of  burdens,  equality  of  privileges,  and 
equality  of  powers  in  all  citizens,  will  be  secured.  To  this  end  we 
declare : 

5.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Government  to  immediately  exercise 
its    constitutional    prerogative    to    regulate    commerce     among    the 
States.     The  great  instruments  by  which  this  commerce  is  carried 
on  are  transportation,  money,  and  the  transmission  of  intelligence. 
They  are  now  mercilessly  controlled  by  giant  monopolies,  to  the 
impoverishment  of  labor,   the  crushing  out  of  healthful   competi- 
tion, and  the  destruction  of  business  security.     We  hold  it,  there- 
fore, to  be  the  imperative  and  immediate  duty  of  Congress  to  pass 
all  needful  laws  for  the  control  and  regulation  of  these  great  agents 
of  commerce,  in  accordance  with  the  oft-repeated  decisions  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

6.  That   these   monopolies,  which    have   exacted    from   enterprise 
such  heavy  tribute,  have  also  inflicted  countless  wrongs  upon  the 
toiling  millions   of  the  United   States;    and   no   system  of   reform 
should  commend  itself  to  the  support  of  the  people  which  does  not 
protect  the  man  who  earns  his  bread  by  the  sweat  of  his   face. 
Bureaus    of    labor    statistics    must    be  established,  both  State  and 
national;  arbitration  take    the    place    of   brute    force  in  the  settle- 
ment  of  disputes   between  employer  and   employed;     the   national 
eight-hour   law  be   honestly   enforced;    the   importation   of   foreign 
labor    under    contract    be    made    illegal;    and    whatever    practical 
reforms  may  be  necessary  for  the  protection  of  united  labor  must 
be  granted,  to  the  end  that  unto  the  toiler  shall  be  given  that  pro- 
portion of  the  profits  of  the  thing  or  value  created  which  his  labor 
bears  to  the  cost  of  production. 

7.  That  we  approve  and  favor  the  passage  of  an  interstate  com- 
merce bill.     Navigable  waters  should  be  improved  by  the  Govern- 
ment, and  be  free. 

8.  We  demand  the  payment  of  the  bonded  debt  as  it  falls  due; 
the  election  of  United   States   Senators  by  the   direct  vote  of  the 
people  of  their  respective  States;    a  graduated  income  tax;    and  a 
tariff,  which  is  a  tax  upon  the  people,  that  shall  be  so  levied  as  to 
bear  as  lightly  as  possible  upon    necessaries.      We    denounce    the 
present    tariff    as    being    largely  in  the  interest  of  monopoly,  and 
demand  that  it  be  speedily  and  radically  reformed  in  the  interest  of 
labor,  instead  of  capital. 

9.  That  no  further  grants  of  public  lands  shall  be  made  to  cor- 
porations.    All   enactments   granting  lands   to   corporations   should 
be  strictly  construed,  and  all  land  grants  should  be  forfeited  where 
the  terms  upon  which  the  grants  were  made  have  not  been  strictly 
complied  with.     The  lands    must    be    held    for    homes    for    actual 
settlers,  and  must  not  be  subject  to  purchase  or  control  by  non- 
resident foreigners  or  other  speculators. 

10.  That    we    deprecate    the  discrimination  of  American  legisla- 
tion  against   the   greatest   of   American   industries — agriculture,    by 
which  it  has  been  deprived  of  nearly  all  beneficial  legislation,  while 
forced  to  bear  the  brunt  of  taxation ;    and  we  demand  for  it  the 
fostering  care  of  Government,  and  the  just  recognition  of  its  im- 
portance in  the    development    and    advancement  of  our  land;    and 
we  appeal   to   the  American   farmer  to  co-operate   with   us   in   our 
endeavors  to  advance  the  national  interests  of  the  country  and  the 

300 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

overthrow  of  monopoly    in    every    shape,    whenever   and    wherever 
found. 

The  National  party,  that  was  the  legatee  of  the  Greenback 
party,  held  its  national  convention  at  Indianapolis,  on  the 
28th  of  May,  with  James  B.  Weaver,  of  Iowa,  its  president 
General  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  of  Massachusetts,  was  nomi- 
nated for  President  on  the  ist  ballot,  as  follows : 

Benjamin  F.  Butler,  Mass.  322    II     Edward  P.  Allis,  Wis 1 

Jesse  Harper,  111 99          David  Davis,  111 1 

Solon  Chase,  Me 2    || 

General  Butler  was  then  declared  the  choice  of  the  conven- 
tion, but  the  motion  to  make  it  unanimous  called  out  hisses 
from  a  portion  of  the  delegates.  A.  M.  West,  of  Mississippi, 
was  nominated  for  Vice-President  by  acclamation.  The  fol- 
lowing platform  was  adopted : 

Eight  years  ago  our  young  party  met  in  this  city  for  the  first 
time,  and  proclaimed  to  the  world  its  immortal  principles,  and 
placed  before  the  American  people  as  a  Presidential  candidate  that 
great  philanthropist  and  spotless  statesman,  Peter  Cooper.  Since 
that  convention  our  party  has  organized  all  over  the  Union,  and 
through  discussion  and  agitation  has  been  educating  the  people  to 
a  sense  of  their  rights  and  duties  to  themselves  and  their  country. 
These  labors  have  accomplished  wonders.  We  now  have  a  great, 
harmonious  party,  and  thousands  who  believe  in  our  principles  in 
the  ranks  of  other  parties. 

"  We  point  with  pride  to  our  history."  We  forced  the  remonetiza- 
tion  of  the  silver  dollar;  prevented  the  refunding  of  the  public  debt 
into  long-time  bonds ;  secured  the  payment  of  the  bonds,  until  "  the 
best  banking  system  the  world  ever  saw,"  for  robbing  the  producer, 
now  totters  because  of  its  contracting  foundation;  we  have  stopped 
the  wholesale  destruction  of  the  greenback  currency,  and  secured 
a  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  establishing 
forever  the  right  of  the  people  to  issue  their  own  money. 

Notwithstanding  all  this,  never  in  our  history  have  the  banks, 
land-grant  railroads,  and  other  monopolies  been  more  insolent  in 
their  demands  for  further  privileges — still  more  class  legislation. 
In  this  emergency  the  dominant  parties  are  arrayed  against  the 
people,  and  are  the  abject  tools  of  the  corporate  monopolies. 

In  the  last  Congress,  they  repealed  over  twelve  million  dollars  of 
annual  taxes  for  the  banks,  throwing  the  burden  upon  the  people  to 
pay,  or  pay  interest  thereon. 

Both  old  parties  in  the  present  Congress  vie  with  each  other  in 
their  efforts  to  further  repeal  taxes  in  order  to  stop  the  payment  of 
the  public  debt  and  save  the  banks  whose  charters  they  have  renewed 
for  twenty  years.  Notwithstanding  the  distress  of  business,  the 
shrinkage  of  wages,  and  panic,  they  persist  in  locking  up,  on  various 

301 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

pretexts,  four  hundred  million  dollars  of  money,  every  dollar  of 
which  the  people  pay  interest  upon,  and  need,  and  most  of  which 
should  be  promptly  applied  to  pay  bonds  now  payable. 

The  old  parties  are  united — as  they  cannot  agree  what  taxes  to 
repeal — in  efforts  to  squander  the  income  of  the  Government  upon 
every  pretext  rather  than  pay  the  debt. 

A  bill  has  already  passed  the  United  States  Senate  making  the 
banks  a  present  of  over  fifty  million  dollars  more  of  the  people's 
money,  in  order  to  enable  them  to  levy  a  still  greater  burden  of 
interest  taxes. 

A  joint  effort  is  being  made  by  the  old  party  leaders  to  overthrow 
the  sovereign  Constitutional  power  of  the  people  to  control  their  own 
financial  affairs,  and  issue  their  own  money,  in  order  to  forever 
enslave  the  masses  to  bankers  and  other  business.  The  House  of 
Representatives  has  passed  bills  reclaiming  nearly  one  hundred  mil- 
lion acres  of  land  granted  to  and  forfeited  by  railroad  companies. 
These  bills  have  gone  to  the  Senate,  a  body  composed  largely  of 
aristocratic  millionaires,  who,  according  to  their  own  party  papers, 
generally  purchased  their  elections  in  order  to  protect  great  monopo- 
lies which  they  represent.  This  body  has  thus  far  defied  the  people 
and  the  House,  and  refused  to  act  upon  these  bills  in  the  interest  of 
the  people. 

Therefore  we,  the  National  party  of  the  United  States,  in  national 
convention  assembled,  this  twenty-ninth  day  of  May,  A.D.,  1884,  de- 
clare : 

1.  That  we  hold  the  late  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  on  the 
legal  tender  question  to  be  a.  full  vindication  of  the  theory  which 
our  party  has  always  advocated  on  the  right  and  authority  of  Con- 
gress over  the    issue  of    legal    tender    notes,  and  we  hereby  pledge 
ourselves  to  uphold  said  decision,   and  to  defend  the   Constitution 
against  alterations  or  amendments  intended  to  deprive  the  people 
of  any  rights  or  privileges  conferred  by  that  instrument.     We  de- 
mand the  issue  of  such  money  in  sufficient  quantities  to  supply  the 
actual  demand  of  trade  and  commerce,  in  accordance  with  the  in- 
crease of  population  and  the  development  of  our  industries.     We 
demand  the  substitution  of  greenbacks  for  national  bank  notes,  and 
the  prompt  payment  of  the  public  debt.     We  want  that  money  which 
saved  our  country  in  time  of  war,  and  which  has  given  it  prosperity 
and  happiness  in  peace.     We  condemn  the  retirement  of  the  frac- 
tional currency  and  the  small  denomination  of  greenbacks,  and  de- 
mand their  restoration.    We  demand  the  issue  of  the  hoards  of  money 
now  locked  up  in  the  United  States  Treasury,  by  applying  them  to 
the  payment  of  the  public  debt  now  due. 

2.  We    denounce,   as    dangerous    to  our    republican    institutions, 
those  methods  and  policies  of  the  Democratic  and  Republican  par- 
ties which  have  sanctioned  or  permitted  the  establishment  of  land, 
railroad,  money,  and  other  gigantic  corporate  monopolies ;  and  we 
demand  such  governmental  action  as  may  be  necessary  to  take  from 
such  monopolies  the  powers  they  have  so  corruptly  and    unjustly 
usurped,  and  restore  them  to  the  people,  to  whom  they  belong. 

3.  The  public  lands  being  the  natural  inheritance  of  the  people, 
we   denounce  that  policy   which   has   granted   to   corporations   vast 
tracts  of  land,  and  we  demand  that  immediate  and  vigorous  meas- 
ures be  taken  to  reclaim  from  such  corporations,  for  the  people's  use 

302 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

and  benefit,  all  such  land  grants  as  have  been  forfeited  by  reason 
of  non-fulfilment  of  contract,  or  that  may  have  been  wrongfully 
acquired  by  corrupt  legislation,  and  that  such  reclaimed  lands  and 
other  public  domain  be  henceforth  held  as  a  sacred  trust,  to  be 
granted  only  to  actual  settlers  in  limited  quantities ;  and  we  also  de- 
mand that  the  alien  ownership  of  land,  individual  or  corporate,  be 
prohibited. 

4.  We  demand  Congressional  regulation  of  interstate  commerce. 
We  denounce  "pooling,"  stock  watering,  and  discrimination  in  rates 
and  charges,  and  demand  that  Congress  shall  correct  these  abuses, 
even,  if  necessary,  by  the  construction  of  national  railroads.  We 
also  demand  the  establishment  of  a  Government  postal  telegraph 
system. 

All    private    property,  all  forms  of    money  and  obligations    to 
pay  money,   should  bear  their  just  proportion  of  the  public  taxes. 
•Icmand  a  graduated  income  tax. 

6.  We    demand    the    amelioration  of    the  condition  of    labor,  by 
enforcing    the    sanitary  laws    in    industrial    establishments,  by  the 
abolition  of  the  convict  labor  system,  by  a  rigid  inspection  of  mines 
and  factories,  by  a  reduction  of  the  hours  of  labor  in  industrial  estab- 
lishments, by  fostering  educational   institutions,  and  by  abolishing 
child  labor. 

7.  We  condemn  all  importations  of  contracted  labor,  made  with 
a  view  of  reducing  to  starvation  wages  the  workingmen  of  this  coun- 
try, and  demand  laws  for  its  prevention. 

8.  We  insist  upon  a  constitutional  amendment  reducing  the  terms 
of  United  States  Senators. 

9.  We  demand  such  rules  for  the  government  of  Congress  as  shall 
place  all  representatives  of  the  people  upon  an  equal  footing,  and 
take  away  from  committees  a  veto  power  greater  than  that  of  the 
President. 

10.  The  question  as  to  the  amount  of  duties  to  be  levied  upon 
various  articles  of  import  has  been  agitated  and  quarrelled  over,  and 
has  divided  communities,  for  nearly  a  hundred  years.     It  is  not  now, 
and  never  will  be,  settled,  unless  by  the  abolition  of  indirect  taxa- 
tion.    It  is  a  convenient  issue,  always  raised  when  the  people  are 
excited  over  abuses  in  their  midst.     While  we  favor  a  wise  revision 
of  the  tariff  laws,  with  a  view  to  raising  a  revenue  from  luxuries 
rather  than  necessities,  we  insist  that,  as  an  economic  question,  its 
importance  is  insignificant  as  compared  with  financial   issues ;   for 
whereas  we  have  suffered  our  worst  panics  under  low  and  also  under 
high  tariffs,  we  have  never  suffered  from  a  panic,  nor  seen  our  fac- 
tories and  workshops  closed,  while  the  volume  of  money  in  circula- 
tion was  adequate  to  the  needs  of  commerce.     Give  our  farmers  and 
manufacturers  money  as  cheap  as  you  now  give  it  to  our  bankers, 
and  they  can  pay  high  wages  to  labor,  and  compete  with  all  the 
world. 

11.  For  the  purpose  of  testing  the  sense  of  the  people  upon  the 
subject,  we  are  in  favor  of  submitting  to  a  vote  of  the  people  an 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  in  favor  of  suffrage  regardless  of 
sex,  and  also  on  the  subject  of  the  liquor  traffic. 

12.  All  disabled  soldiers  of  the  late  war  should  be  equitably  pen- 
sioned, and  we  denounce  the  policy  of  keeping  a  small  army  of  office- 
holders, whose  only  business  is  to  prevent,  on  technical  grounds, 

3°3 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

deserving  soldiers  from  obtaining  justice  from  the  Government  they 
helped  to  save. 

13.  As  our  name  indicates,  we  are  a  national  party,  knowing  no 
East,  no  West,  no  North,  no  South.       Having  no  sectional  preju- 
dices, we  can   properly  place   in  nomination  for   the   high   offices  of 
state,  as  candidates,  men  from  any  section  of  the  Union. 

14.  We  appeal  to  all  people  who  believe  in  our  principles  to  aid 
us  by  voice,  pen,  and  votes. 

The  Prohibitionists  divided  in  the  contest  of  1884.  Their 
first  was  a  mass  convention,  held  at  Chicago  on  the  iQth  of 
June,  under  the  title  of  the  American  Prohibition  National 
Convention,  with  J.  L.  Barlow,  of  Connecticut,  as  president. 
The  fact  that  it  was  not  largely  a  representative  body  is  evi- 
denced from  the  fact  that  on  the  ballot  for  President,  Samuel 
C.  Pomeroy,  of  Kansas,  received  72  votes  to  12  for  all  others, 
and  was  declared  the  nominee,  and  John  A.  Conant,  of  Con- 
necticut, was  nominated  for  Vice-President  without  a  ballot. 
This  organization  did  not  have  any  electoral  tickets  as  far  as 
I  can  learn. 

It  adopted  the  following  platform  : 

We  hold :  I.  That  ours  is  a  Christian,  and  not  a  heathen,  nation, 
and  that  the  God  of  the  Christian  Scriptures  is  the  author  of  civil 
government. 

2.  That  the  Bible  should  be  associated  with  books  of  science  and 
literature  in  all  our  educational  institutions. 

3.  That  God  requires  and  man  needs  a  Sabbath. 

4.  That  we  demand  the  prohibition  of  the  importation,  manufac- 
ture, and  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks. 

5.  That  the  charters  of  all  secret  lodges  granted  by  our  Federal 
and  State  Legislatures  should  be  withdrawn  and  their  oaths  prohib- 
ited by  law. 

6.  We  are  opposed  to  putting  prison  labor  or  depreciated  contract 
labor  from  foreign  countries  in  competition  with  free  labor  to  benefit 
manufacturers,  corporations,  and  speculators. 

7.  We  are  in  favor  of  a  thorough  revision  and  enforcement  of  the 
law  concerning  patents  and  inventions,  for  the  prevention  and  pun- 
ishment of  frauds  either  upon  inventors  or  the  general  public. 

8.  We  hold  to  and  will  vote  for  woman  suffrage. 

9.  We  hold  that  civil  equality  secured  to  all  American  citizens  by 
Articles  Thirteen,  Fourteen,  and  Fifteen  of  our  amended  national 
Constitution  should  be  preserved  inviolate,   and  the   same  equality 
should  be  extended  to  Indians  and  Chinamen. 

10.  That  international  differences  should  be  settled  by  arbitration. 

11.  That  land  and  other  monopolies  should  be  discouraged. 

12.  That  the  General  Government  should  furnish  the  people  with 
an  ample  and  sound  currency. 

13.  That  it  should  be  the  settled  policy  of  the  Government  to  re- 
duce the  tariffs  and  taxes  as  rapidly  as  the  necessities  of  revenue  and 
vested  business  interests  will  allow. 

304 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

14.  That  polygamy  should  be  immediately  suppressed  by  law,  and 
that  the  Republican  party  is  censurable  for  its  long  neglect  of  its 
duty  in  respect  to  this  evil. 

15.  And,  finally,  we  demand  for  the  American  people  the  abolition 
of  electoral  colleges,  and  a  direct  vote  for  President  and  Vice-Presi- 
dent  of  the  United  States. 

The  regular  national  Prohibition  party  held  its  convention 
in  Pittsburg  on  the  23d  of  July  with  Samuel  Dickie,  of  Mich- 
igan, as  permanent  president.  The  sentiment  of  the  party 
was  very  strongly  in  favor  of  Governor  John  P.  St.  John,  of 
Kansas,  who  was  unanimously  nominated  as  President,  and 
William  Daniel,  of  Maryland,  was  chosen  for  Vice-President 
by  a  like  unanimous  vote.  The  following  platform  was 
adopted : 

The  Prohibition-Home-Protection  party,  in  national  convention 
assembled,  acknowledge  Almighty  God  as  the  rightful  sovereign  of 
all  men,  from  whom  the  just  powers  of  government  are  derived,  and 
to  whose  laws  human  enactments  should  conform.  Peace,  prosper- 
ity, and  happiness  only  can  come  to  the  people  when  the  laws  of  their 
national  and  State  governments  are  in  accord  with  the  divine  will. 

That  the  importation,  manufacture,  supply,  and  sale  of  alcoholic 
beverages,  created  and  maintained  by  the  laws  of  the  national  and 
State  governments,  during  the  entire  history  of  such  laws,  is  every- 
where shown  to  be  the  promoting  cause  of  intemperance,  with  re- 
sulting crime  and  pauperism ;  making  large  demands  upon  public 
and  private  charity;  imposing  large  and  unjust  taxation  and  public 
burdens  for  penal  and  sheltering  institutions  upon  thrift,  industry, 
manufactures,  and  commerce;  endangering  the  public  peace;  caus- 
ing desecration  of  the  Sabbath ;  corrupting  our  politics,  legislation, 
and  administration  of  the  laws ;  shortening  lives ;  impairing  health, 
and  diminishing  productive  industry ;  causing  education  to  be  neg- 
lected and  despised  ;  nullifying  the  teachings  of  the  Bible,  the  Church, 
and  the  school,  the  standards  and  guides  of  our  fathers  and  their 
children  in  the  founding  and  growth  under  God  of  our  widely  ex- 
tended country ;  and,  while  imperilling  the  perpetuity  of  our  civil  and 
religious  liberties,  are  baleful  fruits  by  which  we  know  that  these 
laws  are  alike  contrary  to  God's  laws  and  contravene  our  happiness ; 
and  we  call  upon  our  fellow-citizens  to  aid  in  the  repeal  of  these 
laws  and  in  the  legal  suppression  of  this  baneful  liquor  traffic. 

The  fact  that,  during  the  twenty-four  years  in  which  the  Repub- 
lican party  has  controlled  the  General  Government  and  that  of  many 
of  the  States,  no  effort  has  been  made  to  change  this  policy;  that 
Territories  have  been  created  from  the  national  domain  and  govern- 
ments from  them  established,  and  States  admitted  into  the  Union, 
in  no  instance  in  either  of  which  has  this  traffic  been  forbidden,  or 
the  people  of  these  Territories  or  States  been  permitted  to  prohibit 
it ;  that  there  are  now  over  two  hundred  thousand  distilleries,  brew- 
eries, wholesale  and  retail  dealers  in  these  drinks,  holding  certifi- 
cates and  claiming  the  authority  of  Government  for  the  continuation 
of  a  business  which  is  so  destructive  to  the  moral  and  material  wel- 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

fare  of  the  people,  together  with  the  fact  that  they  have  turned  a 
deaf  ear  to  remonstrance  and  petition  for  the  correction  of  this  abuse 
of  civil  government,  is  conclusive  that  the  Republican  party  is  insen- 
sible to  or  impotent  for  the  redress  of  those  wrongs,  and  should  no 
longer  be  intrusted  with  the  powers  and  responsibilities  of  govern- 
ment; that  although  this  party,  in  its  late  national  convention,  was 
silent  on  the  liquor  question,  not  so  were  its  candidates,  Messrs. 
Blaine  and  Logan.  Within  the  year  past  Mr.  Elaine  has  publicly 
recommended  that  the  revenues  derived  from  the  liquor  traffic  shall 
be  distributed  among  the  States,  and  Senator  Logan  has  by  bill  pro- 
posed to  devote  these  revenues  to  the  support  of  schools.  Thus 
both  virtually  recommend  the  perpetuation  of  the  traffic,  and  that 
the  State  and  its  citizens  shall  become  partners  in  the  liquor  crime. 

The  fact  that  the  Democratic  party  has,  in  its  national  deliver- 
ances of  party  policy,  arrayed  itself  on  the  side  of  the  drink  makers 
and  sellers  by  declaring  against  the  policy  of  prohibition  of  such 
traffic  under  the  false  name  of  "sumptuary  laws,"  and,  when  in 
power  in  some  of  the  States,  in  refusing  remedial  legislation,  and, 
in  Congress,  of  refusing  to  permit  the  creation  of  a  board  of  inquiry 
to  investigate  and  report  upon  the  effects  of  this  traffic,  proves  that 
the  Democratic  party  should  not  be  intrusted  with  power  or  place. 

There  can  be  no  greater  peril  to  the  nation  than  the  existing  com- 
petition of  the  Republican  and  Democratic  parties  for  the  liquor 
vote.  Experience  shows  that  any  party  not  openly  opposed  to  the 
traffic  will  engage  in  this  competition,  will  court  the  favor  of  the 
criminal  classes,  will  barter  away  the  public  morals,  purity  of  the 
ballot,  and  every  trust  and  object  of  good  government,  for  party 
success;  and  patriots  and  good  citizens  should  find  in  this  practice 
sufficient  cause  for  immediate  withdrawal  from  all  connection  with 
their  party. 

That  we  favor  reforms  in  the  administration  of  the  Government, 
in  the  abolition  of  all  sinecures,  useless  offices  and  officers,  in  the 
election  by  the  people  of  officers  of  the  Government  instead  of  ap- 
pointment by  the  President.  That  competency,  honesty,  and  sobriety 
are  essential  qualifications  for  holding  civil  office,  and  we  oppose 
the  removal  of  such  persons  from  mere  administrative  offices,  except 
so  far  as  it  may  be  absolutely  necessary  to  secure  effectiveness  to 
the  vital  issues  on  which  the  general  administration  of  the  Govern- 
ment has  been  intrusted  to  a  party. 

That  the  collection  of  revenue  from  alcohol,  liquors,  and  tobacco 
should  be  abolished,  as  the  vices  of  men  are  not  a  proper  subject 
for  taxation;  that  revenue  for  customs  duties  should  be  levied  for 
the  support  of  the  Government,  economically  administered ;  and  when 
so  levied,  the  fostering  of  American  labor,  manufactures,  and  indus- 
tries should  constantly  be  held  in  view. 

That  the  public  land  should  be  held  for  homes  for  the  people  and 
not  for  gifts  to  corporations,  or  to  be  held  in  large  bodies  for  specu- 
lation upon  the  needs  of  actual  settlers. 

That  all  money,  coin  and  paper,  shall  be  made,  issued,  and  regu- 
lated by  the  General  Government,  and  shall  be  a  legal  tender  for  all 
debts,  public  and  private. 

That  grateful  care  and  support  should  be  given  to  our  soldiers  and 
sailors,  their  dependent  widows  and  orphans,  disabled  in  the  service 
of  the  country. 

306 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


That  we  repudiate  as  un-American,  contrary  to  and  subversive  of 
the  principle  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  from  which  our 
Government  has  grown  to  be  the  government  of  fifty-five  millions 
of  people,  and  a  recognized  power  among  nations,  that  any  person 
or  people  shall  or  may  be  excluded  from  residence  or  citizenship 
with  all  others  who  may  desire  the  benefits  which  our  institutions 
confer  upon  the  oppressed  of  all  nations. 

That  while  there  are  important  reforms  that  are  demanded  for 
purity  of  administration  and  the  welfare  of  the  people,  their  impor- 
tance sinks  into  insignificance  when  compared  with  the  reform  of 
the  drink  traffic,  which  annually  wastes  eight  hundred  million  dol- 
lars of  the  wealth  created  by  toil  and  thrift,  and  drags  down  thou- 
sands of  families  from  comfort  to  poverty;  which  fills  jails,  peni- 
tentiaries, insane  asylums,  hospitals,  and  institutions  for  depen- 
dency; which  destroys  the  health,  saps  industry,  and  causes  loss  of 
life  and  property  to  thousands  in  the  land,  lowers  intellectual  and 
physical  vigor,  dulls  the  cunning  hand  of  the  artisan,  is  the  chief 
cause  of  bankruptcy,  insolvency,  and  loss  in  trade,  and  by  its  cor- 
rupting power  endangers  the  perpetuity  of  free  institutions. 

That  Congress  should  exercise  its  undoubted  power,  and  prohibit 
the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  beverages  in  the  District 
of  Columbia,  in  the  Territories  of  the  United  States,  and  in  all  places 
over  which  the  Government  has  exclusive  jurisdiction;  that  here- 
after no  State  shall  be  admitted  into  the  Union  until  its  Constitution 
shall  expressly  prohibit  polygamy  and  the  manufacture  and  sale  of 
intoxicating  beverages. 

We  earnestly  call  the  attention  of  the  laborer  and  mechanic,  the 
miner  and  manufacturer,  and  ask  investigation  of  the  baneful  effects 
upon  labor  and  industry  caused  by  the  needless  liquor  business, 
which  will  be  found  the  robber  who  lessens  wages  and  profits,  the 
destroyer  of  happiness  and  the  family  welfare  of  the  laboring  man, 
and  that  labor  and  all  legitimate  industry  demand  deliverance  from 
the  taxation  and  loss  which  this  traffic  imposes,  and  that  no  tariff 
or  other  legislation  can  so  healthily  stimulate  production  or  increase 
a  demand  for  capital  and  labor,  or  produce  so  much  of  comfort  and 
content  as  the  suppressing  of  this  traffic  would  bring  to  the  labor- 
ing man,  mechanic,  or  employer  of  labor  throughout  our  land. 

That  the  activity  and  co-operation  of  the  women  of  America  for 
the  promotion  of  temperance  has  in  all  the  history  of  the  past  been  a 
strength  and  encouragement  which  we  gratefully  acknowledge  and 
record.  In  the  later  and  present  phase  of  the  movement  for  the 
prohibition  of  the  licensed  traffic  by  the  abolition  of  the  drinking- 
saloon,  the  purity  of  purpose  and  method,  the  earnestness,  zeal,  in- 
telligence, and  devotion  of  the  mothers  and  daughters  of  the 
Women's  Christian  Temperance  Union  has  been  eminently  blessed 
by  God.  Kansas  and  Iowa  have  been  given  her  as  "  sheaves  of  re- 
joicing;" and  the  education  and  arousing  of  the  public  mind,  and 
the  demand  for  constitutional  amendment  now  prevailing,  are  largely 
the  fruit  of  her  prayers  and  labors,  and  we  rejoice  to  have  our 
Christian  women  unite  with  us  in  sharing  the  labors  that  shall  bring 
the  abolition  of  this  traffic  to  the  polls,  she  shall  join  in  the  grand 
"Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow,"  when  by  law  our  boys 
and  friends  shall  be  free  from  legal  drink  temptation. 

That  we  believe  in  the  civil  and  political  equality  of  the  sexes,  and 

307 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


that  the  ballot  in  the  hand  of  woman  is  a  right  for  her  protection, 
and  would  prove  a  powerful  ally  for  the  abolition  of  the  drink- 
saloon,  the  execution  of  law,  the  promotion  of  reform  in  civil  affairs, 
and  the  removal  of  corruption  in  public  life ;  and  thus  believing,  we 
relegate  the  practical  outworking  of  this  reform  to  the  discretion  of 
the  Prohibition  party  in  the  several  States,  according  to  the  condi- 
tion of  public  sentiment  in  those  States ;  that  gratefully  we  acknowl- 
edge and  praise  God  for  the  presence  of  His  Spirit,  guiding  our  coun- 
sels and  granting  the  success  which  has  been  vouchsafed  in  the  prog- 
ress of  temperance  reform,  and  looking  to  Him  from  whom  all  wis- 
dom and  help  come,  we  ask  the  voters  of  the  United  States  to  make 
the  principles  of  the  above  declaration  a  ruling  principle  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  nation  and  of  the  States. 

Resolved,  That  henceforth  the  Prohibition-Home-Protection  party 
shall  be  called  by  the  name  of  the  Prohibition  party. 

The  following  table  exhibits  the  popular  and  electoral  vote 
for  1884: 


STATES. 

POPULAR  VOTE. 

ELECT. 

VOTE. 

Grover  Cleveland, 
Democrat. 

James  G.  Blaine, 
Republican. 

Benjamin  F.  Butler, 
Greenbacker. 

John  P.  St.  John, 
Prohibitionist. 

Cleveland  and 
Hendricks. 

Blaine  and  Logan. 

Alabama  

93,951 
72,927 

89,288 
27,723 
67,199 
16,964 
31,766 
94,667 
312,355 
244,990 
177,316 
90,132 
152,961 
62,540 
52,140 
96,932 
122,481 
149,835 
70,144 
76,510 

59,591 
50,895 
102,416 
36,290 
65,923 
12,951 
28,031 
48,603 
337,474 
238,463 
197,089 
154,406 
118,122 
46,347 
72,209 
85,699 
146,724 
192,669 
111,923 
43,509 

873 
1,847 
2,017 
1,953 
1,688 
6 

145 
10,910 
8,293 

16,341 
1,691 

3,953 
531 
24,433 
42,243 
3,583 

612 

2,920 
761 
2,305 
55 
72 
195 
12,074 
3,028 
1,472 
4,495 
3,139 

2,160 
2,794 
10,026 
18,403 
4,684 

10 

7 

6 
3 

4 
12 

15 

13 

8 

8 
9 

8 
3 

22 

13 
9 

6 

14 
13 

7 

Arkansas 

California     .... 

Colorado     .       .   . 

Connecticut  
Delaware    

Florida  

i^,.    ° 
Illinois  

Indiana  

Iowa  

Kansas  

Kentucky  

Louisiana 

Maine  . 

Maryland  . 

Massachusetts.  .  .  . 
Michigan  

Minnesota  

Mississippi 

,308 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


POPULAR  VOTE. 

VOTE. 

i 

m 

jf 

C.J 

, 

STATES. 

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C 

*3  d 

«£ 

fl 

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o  • 

0 

§1 

31 

*s 
si 

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c'C 

TJ 

a 

?1 

£a 

1 

eu3 

"aJ  c 

c 

OQ 

s« 

So 

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^K 

'3 

O 

-> 

H 

2 

u 

m 

Missouri  

235,988 

202,929 



2,153 

16 

_ 

Nebraska 

54,391 

79,912 

2899 

5 

Nevada.    . 

5,578 

7,193 

26 

3 

New  Hampshire.. 

39,183 

43,249 

552 

1,571 



4 

New  Jersey  

127,798 

123,440 

3,496 

6,159 

9 

New  York  

563,154 

562,005 

16,994 

25,016 

36 

North  Carolina.  .. 

142,952 

125,068 

454 

11 



Ohio  

368,280 

400,082 

5,179 

11,069 

23 

Oregon  

24,604 

26,860 

726 

492 

_ 

3 

Pennsylvania  

392,785 

473,804 

16,992 

15,283 



30 

Rhode  Island. 

12  391 

19,030 

422 

928 

4 

South  Carolina.  .. 

69,890 

21,733 

9 

Tennessee 

133,258 

124,078 

957 

1  131 

12 

Texas 

225,309 

93,141 

3,321 

3,534 

13 

Vermont  

17,331 

39,514 

785 

1,752 

4 

Virginia 

185,497 

139,356 

138 

12 

West  Virginia  

67,317 

63,096 

810 

939 

6 



Wisconsin. 

146  459 

161  157 

4  598 

7  656 

11 

Total  

182 

4,874,986 

4,851,981 

175,370 

150,369 

219 

No  man  was  ever  big  enough  to  conduct  a  Presidential 
contest  for  himself.  The  intense  interest  a  candidate  must 
have  in  the  struggle,  and  the  constant  strain  upon  him,  would 
unbalance  the  most  forceful  intellect  the  world  has  ever  pro- 
duced. Elaine  would  have  been  matchless  in  the  skilful 
management  of  a  Presidential  campaign  for  another,  but  he 
was  dwarfed  by  the  overwhelming  responsibilities  of  con- 
ducting the  campaign  for  himself,  and  yet  he  assumed  the 
supreme  control  of  the  struggle  and  directed  it  absolutely 
from  start  to  finish.  He  was  of  heroic  mould,  and  he  wisely 
planned  his  own  campaign  tours  to  accomplish  the  best 
results.  In  point  of  fact,  he  had  won  his  fight  after  stump- 
ing the  country,  and  lost  it  by  his  stay  in  New  York  on  his 
way  home.  He  knew  how  to  sway  multitudes,  and  none 


309 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

could  approach  him  in  that  important  feature  of  a  conflict ; 
but  he  was  not  trained  to  consider  the  thousand  intricacies 
which  fall  upon  the  management  of  every  Presidential 
contest. 

Three  causes  combined  to  lose  New  York  by  1100  majority 
when  the  electoral  vote  of  that  State  would  have  made  him 
President.  One  was  his  implacable  quarrel  with  Conkling, 
that  lost  him  1000  votes,  cast  directly  for  his  opponent  in 
Conkling's  county  of  Oneida.  They  had  quarrelled  when 
both  were  comparatively  young  and  rivals  for  the  leadership 
of  the  House.  In  a  heated  controversy  between  them  Elaine 
unhorsed  Conkling,  and  inflicted  wounds  which  never  healed, 
and  they  never  spoke  from  that  time  during  their  lives. 
When  both  were  members  of  the  Senate,  if  either  had  occa- 
sion to  refer  to  the  remarks  made  by  the  other,  instead  of 
referring  to  the  "  Senator  from  Maine"  or  the  "  Senator 
from  New  York/'  they  would  say :  "  It  has  been  stated  on 
this  floor."  Many  efforts  were  made  to  bring  them  together, 
but  Conkling  was  an  intense  hater,  and  Elaine  was  willing  to 
be  broken  rather  than  bend.  He  dined  with  Jay  Gould  dur- 
ing his  brief  stay  in  New  York  City,  and  that  brought  him 
no  votes  and  lost  him  many. 

The  Burchard  episode,  that  Elaine  was  blunderingly 
brought  into  in  New  York  just  on  the  eve  of  the  election, 
was  very  generally  accepted  as  costing  him  more  than 
enough  votes  to  have  given  him  the  State  of  New  York, 
and  thereby  his  election  to  the  Presidency.  It  was  miserably 
bad  politics  in  its  conception  and  could  not  have  been  more 
bunglingly  executed.  Elaine  had  suffered  much  from  the 
attacks  upon  his  public  integrity,  and  some  of  his  friends 
in  New  York  assumed  that  it  would  be  a  great  card  to  have 
him  called  upon  by  forty  or  fifty  ministers  of  different 
denominations  and  congratulated  as  the  candidate  for  Presi- 
dent. 

As  originally  planned  it  might  have  accomplished  some 
good,  and  certainly  would  not  have  done  any  harm.  It  was 
intended  that  Rev.  Dr.  Tiffany  should  deliver  the  address 
to  Elaine.  He  was  one  of  the  most  eloquent  divines  of  the 
country,  was  well  up  in  politics,  had  been  in  active  political 
movements  in  Pennsylvania  as  a  leader  in  the  American 
party  when  he  was  connected  with  Dickinson's  College,  and 
was  a  candidate  for  United  States  Senator  before  the  Legis- 
lature of  1855.  Had  he  delivered  the  address  to  Elaine,  it 

310 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

would  have  been  an  elegant  and  faultless  congratulation,  but 
when  the  ministers  met  some  of  them  strenuously  objected 
to  Dr.  Tiffany  as  the  oracle  of  the  party,  and  there  were 
indications  of  considerable  ill-feeling.  There  was  little  time 
for  conference,  and  the  dispute  was  suddenly  ended  by  some 
one  proposing  that  the  oldest  minister  present  should  deliver 
the  address  to  Blaine,  and  that  was  adopted  to  settle  the 
dispute. 

Dr.  Burchard,  unfortunately,  happened  to  be  the  oldest 
minister  in  attendance,  and  he  was  rampant  against  "  Rum, 
Romanism,  and  Rebellion,"  but  none  supposed  for  a  moment 
that  he  would  make  such  a  fearful  break  as  to  publicly 
denounce  Romanism  in  an  address  of  congratulation  to  a 
Presidential  candidate,  whose  mother  and  sisters  were  devout 
Catholics.  On  his  way  home  from  the  West  he  had  visited 
his  sister  at  a  convent  in  Indiana,  where  she  was  Mother 
Superior.  Burchard,  of  course,  had  no  opportunity  for 
preparation,  and  when  the  ministerial  crowd  came  into  the 
presence  of  Blaine  he  fired  off  his  address  in  a  manner  not 
highly  creditable,  and  proclaimed  the  fatal  sentence  against 
"  Rum,  Romanism,  and  Rebellion." 

Blaine  in  his  reply  made  no  reference  to  that  feature  of 
Dr.  Burchard's  address,  and  he  seems  not  to  have  appreciated 
its  fearful  import  until  the  next  day,  when  he  gave  out  an 
interview,  disclaiming  sympathy  with  it ;  but  it  was  accepted 
as  an  afterthought,  and  that  deliverance  of  Dr.  Burchard 
certainly  drove  away  from  Blaine  more  than  the  six  hundred 
votes  necessary  to  give  him  the  State  of  New  York  and  the 
Presidency.  I  saw  Blaine  soon  after  the  election,  and  asked 
him  why  it  was  that  he  overlooked  the  expression  at  the 
time.  He  was  a  man  of  such  keen  perception  and  so  ready 
in  every  emergency  that  I  was  amazed  at  his  failure  to  turn 
the  blunder  to  his  advantage,  as  he  could  have  done  by 
a  generous  expression  on  the  religious  issue  involved.  He 
told  me  that  he  heard  the  expression  distinctly,  but  that  his 
mind  was  just  then  concentrated  on  his  reply,  as  he  generally 
spoke  spontaneously,  and  that  he  thereby  failed  to  become 
impressed  with  its  importance.  He  said  that  when  the 
proceedings  were  over,  and  he  gave  it  a  moment's  reflection, 
he  saw  what  a  fearful  mistake  had  been  made;  but  the 
emergency  was  extreme  and  called  for  immediate  action, 
and  he  unfortunately  hesitated  until  another  day  had  passed. 
It  was  then  too  late,  and  Dr.  Burchard  certainly  cost  Blaine 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

many  more  votes  than  would  have  given  him  his  election. 
Had  Elaine  been  under  the  command  of  a  competent 
chairman  of  his  national  committee,  he  would  never  have 
been  permitted  to  stop  in  New  York  after  his  great  battle 
had  been  fought  before  the  people,  and  had  he  gone  directly 
from  the  West  to  his  home  in  Maine,  he  would  have  been 
President  instead  of  Cleveland. 

\Blaine  and  Tilden  are  the  only  men  I  can  recall  who 
undertook  to  manage  a  Presidential  contest  for  themselves, 
and  both  suffered  defeats,  for  which  they  were  wholly 
responsible! 

Elaine  committed  many  serious  blunders  during  the  cam- 
paign of  1884.  He  and  Cleveland  were  both  made  the 
targets  of  flagrant  scandals,  and  when  the  Cleveland  scandal 
was  sent  to  Elaine  in  the  early  part  of  the  contest,  instead 
of  peremptorily  forbidding  its  use  as  a  campaign  factor,  as 
would  have  been  most  wise,  he  sent  it  to  his  national  com- 
mittee, and  it  was  given  publicity.  The  Elaine  scandal  was 
sent  to  Cleveland  early  in  the  fight,  and  he  at  once  gave 
notice  to  those  in  charge  of  his  campaign  that  any  personal 
scandals  against  Elaine  should  not  have  the  sanction  of  the 
Democratic  organization.  Elaine  never  would  have  com- 
mitted such  a  mistake  if  he  had  been  managing  a  Presidential 
campaign  for  another,  and  had  he  been  such  responsible 
manager,  he  never  would  have  permitted  a  libel  suit  to  be 
instituted  against  a  newspaper  publisher  for  any  scandal, 
however  false  and  malignant.  He  was  a  man  of  intense 
earnestness,  and  the  intensity  of  his  interest  in  his  own 
election  for  the  Presidency  unbalanced  his  judgment  and 
made  him  often  tf  e  creature  of  impulse  when  he  should  have 
been  most  dispassionate  and  philosophical.  The  scandals 
did  not  affect  a  thousand  votes  out  of  the  many  millions 
cast  for  President,  and  Elaine  suffered  vastly  more  than 
Cleveland,  because  he  dignified  the  scandal  against  himself 
by  legal  proceedings  for  defamation.  The  fact  that  he 
voluntarily  discontinued  the  suit  after  the  election  is  the 
best  evidence  of  the  error  committed  against  himself. 

Charles  A.  Dana,  then  editor  of  the  New  York  Sun, 
became  estranged  from  Mr.  Cleveland  the  year  before  the 
Presidential  election  of  1884.  He  had  earnestly  supported 
Cleveland  for  Governor  in  1882,  but  when  a  movement  was 
made  by  Mr.  Manning  to  organize  the  State  for  Cleveland 
in  1884  Dana  was  implacable  in  his  opposition.  I  met  him 

312 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

several  times  before  Cleveland  was  nominated,  and  he  always 
discussed  the  question  with  an  unusual  degree  of  acrimony. 
He  believed  that  Cleveland  was  not  available;  that  he  was 
unworthy  of  the  position,  and  that  if  nominated  he  would 
be  overwhelmingly  defeated.  He  gave  me  no  reason  for  his 
changed  relations  with  Cleveland,  and  I  did  not  learn  the 
true  cause  until  after  Cleveland  had  been  elected  Presi- 
dent. 

Soon  after  Cleveland's  nomination  I  was  spending  a  few 
days  at  Saratoga,  and  was  watching  Dana's  paper  with 
much  interest,  for  he  was  very  much  disgruntled.  He  did 
not  at  first  declare  himself  aggressively  against  Cleveland's 
election,  but  one  morning  at  Saratoga,  in  taking  up  the  Sun, 
I  found  one  of  Dana's  terrible  deliverances  against  Cleveland, 
that  left  no  possible  chance  for  a  reconciliation.  I  tele- 
graphed to  Air.  Dana  and  asked  him  to  meet  me  at  his 
office  at  three  o'clock  that  afternoon,  and  called  there  on 
my  way  home.  Mr.  Dana  had  gone  too  far  to  recede,  but 
I  tried  to  temper  his  bitterness,  as  I  thought  it  would  do 
great  harm,  not  only  to  Cleveland,  but  to  his  own  newspaper 
as  well,  then  one  of  the  most  prosperous  in  the  country. 

Mr.  Dana  was  petulant  and  violent  in  his  expressions 
against  Cleveland,  and  said  that  he  had  decided  to  support 
General  Butler,  who  was  the  candidate  of  the  Labor- 
Socialistic  element,  and  who,  he  said,  would  receive  not  less 
than  25,000  votes  in  New  York  City.  I  told  him  that  Butler 
might  receive  2500,  and  if  there  were  25,000  disgruntled 
Democrats  who  wanted  to  defeat  Cleveland,  they  would 
certainly  vote  for  Blaine. 

The  result  was  about  as  I  had  predicted.  Butler  received 
only  a  few  thousand  votes,  and  Dana  and  his  following, 
while  ostensibly  supporting  Butler,  voted  squarely  for  Blaine. 
Dana's  paper  was  the  most  aggressive  of  all  the  anti- 
Cleveland  newspapers  in  the  country,  and  it  doubtless  exerted 
great  influence,  but  not  sufficient  to  lose  Cleveland  the  State. 

Charles  A.  Dana  was  the  ablest  editor  ever  developed  by 
American  journalism.  Horace  Greeley  was  more  pungent 
and  telling  in  his  political  articles,  and  Henry  Watterson 
is  more  brilliant,  but  Charles  A.  Dana  was  the  strongest 
editorial  writer  this  country  has  ever  produced.  He  was 
versatile,  powerful,  and  elegant,  but  an  unfortunate  personal 
estrangement  made  him  the  bitterest  of  Cleveland's  enemies, 
and  paved  the  way  for  the  Sun  to  be  transformed  from  an 

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OUR  PRESIDENTS 

out-and-out  Tammany  organ  to  the  most  aggressive  of 
Republican  organs. 

It  was  not  until  I  met  Cleveland  at  Albany,  soon  after  his 
election,  that  I  learned  the  cause  of  the  estrangement  be- 
tween Cleveland  and  Dana,  and  the  statement  given  by  Mr. 
Cleveland  was  subsequently  confirmed  by  Mr.  Dana.  Dana 
had  very  earnestly  supported  Cleveland's  nomination  and 
election  for  Governor  in  1882,  and  after  the  election  he  wrote 
a  personal  letter  to  Cleveland  asking  the  appointment  of  a 
friend  to  the  position  of  Adjutant-General.  His  chief  pur- 
pose was  to  give  a  position  on  the  staff  to  his  son,  Paul  Dana, 
who  is  now  his  successor  in  the  editorial  chair.  Cleveland 
received  that  letter  as  he  received  thousands  of  other  letters 
recommending  appointments,  instead  of  recognizing  the 
claim  Mr.  Dana  had  upon  him  for  the  courtesy  of  an  answer. 
Beecher  had  a  candidate  for  the  same  position,  and  Cleve- 
land gave  it  to  Beecher's  man  without  any  explanation  what- 
ever to  Dana,  who  felt  that  he  had  been  discourteously 
treated  by  Cleveland. 

Mr.  Dana  gave  no  open  sign  of  his  disappointment,  but 
some  time  after  Cleveland's  inauguration,  when  it  became 
known  that  Dana  felt  grieved  at  the  Governor,  some  mutual 
friends  intervened  and  proposed  to  Cleveland  that  he  should 
invite  Dana  to  join  with  some  acquaintances  at  the  Executive 
Mansion.  To  this  Cleveland  readily  assented.  Dana  was 
informed  that  Cleveland  would  tender  such  an  invitation  if  it 
would  be  accepted,  and  he  promptly  assented.  Cleveland 
then  became  involved  in  the  pressing  duties  of  the  Legisla- 
ture, and  allowed  the  session  to  close  without  extending  the 
promised  and  expected  invitation  to  Dana.  Mr.  Cleveland 
told  me  that  he  was  entirely  to  blame  for  neglect  in  both 
instances,  as  Dana  would  doubtless  have  been  satisfied  if  he 
had  courteously  informed  him  of  his  convictions  which  re- 
quired him  to  appoint  another  for  Adjutant-General ;  and  he 
had  no  excuse  to  offer  but  that  of  neglect  for  not  inviting 
Dana  to  dinner. 

Dana  naturally  assumed  that  Cleveland  had  given  him 
deliberate  affront,  and  Cleveland  could  make  no  satisfactory 
explanation.  As  Governor  and  as  President  he  was  first  of 
all  devoted  to  his  official  duties,  which  he  discharged  with 
rare  fidelity,  and  he  gave  little  time  even  to  the  common 
courtesies  which  most  Governors  and  Presidents  would 
recognize  as  justly  belonging  to  their  friends.  Efforts  were 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

made  to  conciliate  Dana,  but  he  never  would  discuss  the 
question,  and  he  sacrificed  half  the  circulation  of  his  paper 
in  the  campaign  of  1884  in  his  battle  against  Cleveland. 
When  Cleveland's  election  was  announced,  and  the  Repub- 
licans were  disposed  to  dispute  the  vote  of  New  York,  Dana 
came  out  boldly  and  declared  that  Cleveland  was  elected  and 
that  no  violent  measures  should  be  tolerated  to  deprive  him 
of  the  honor  conferred  upon  him  by  the  people. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  Dana  got  even  with  Cleveland  in 
1888.  His  paper  gave  a  nominal  support  to  Cleveland,  but 
did  more  damage  to  the  Cleveland  cause  than  any  other 
newspaper  in  the  country  by  subtle  and  persistent  attacks 
upon  the  administration  and  the  party,  though  never  exhibit- 
ing on  the  surface  a  trace  of  personal  hostility  to  the  Presi- 
dent. The  Sun  was  then  the  organ  of  Tammany,  and  Tam- 
many certainly  defeated  Cleveland  in  1888  by  giving  the 
State  to  Harrison,  when  Hill,  the  Democratic  candidate  for 
Governor  on  the  same  ticket,  was  elected  by  nearly  20,000. 
It  is  not  a  strained  conclusion  that  Dana  defeated  Cleveland's 
re-election  in  1888.  The  estrangement  between  Dana  and 
Cleveland  continued,  as  they  never  met  or  had  any  inter- 
course. 

Elaine's  nomination  was  possible  in  1888  when  Harrison 
was  made  the  candidate,  but  after  hesitating  for  three  days, 
during  which  time  he  freely  conferred  by  cable  with  his 
friends,  as  he  was  then  in  Europe,  he  finally  decided  to 
decline. 

His  belief  that  he  was  fated  not  to  be  President  was  not 
weakened  by  advancing  age,  and  his  final  assent  to  the  use 
of  his  name  in  1892,  at  the  Minneapolis  convention  that 
renominated  Harrison,  was  the  first  exhibition  of  decay  in 
one  who  had  been  a  giant  among  the  giants  in  the  most  event- 
ful history  of  the  Republic.  He  had  been  a  possibly  success- 
ful candidate  in  four  national  conventions;  had  once  been 
nominated  and  defeated,  and  it  was  a  sad  spectacle  to  see 
him,  like  a  great  oak  with  its  green  boughs  fall  and  its 
heart  corroding  from  the  storms  of  many  winters,  broken  in 
a  tempest  of  political  resentments  and  in  a  struggle  that  had 
not  so  much  as  a  silver  lining  to  the  cloud  of  despair  that 
hung  over  him.  His  nomination  was  hopeless ;  his  defeat,  if 
nominated,  inevitable,  and  thus  ended  the  life  tragedy  of  one 
of  the  ablest,  bravest,  and  most  beloved  of  our  public  men. 


THE  HARRISON-CLEVELAND 
CONTEST 

1888 


THE  Democratic  National  Convention  of  1888  met  at  St. 
Louis  on  June  5,  and  it  was  the  most  perfunctory  body  of  the 
kind  I  have  ever  witnessed.  I  never  saw  a  national  political 
body  so  entirely  devoid  of  enthusiasm;  yet  it  was  entirely 
fixed  in  its  purpose  to  renominate  President  Cleveland.  He 
appealed  strongly  to  the  convictions  and  judgment  of  the 
party,  but  not  to  its  affection  or  enthusiasm.  He  was  nomi- 
nated by  a  unanimous  vote  without  the  formality  of  a  ballot, 
and  it  had  been  settled  long  before  the  convention  met  that 
the  sturdy  old  Roman  of  Ohio,  ex-Senator  Thurman,  should 
be  the  candidate  for  the  second  place,  as  Vice-President 
Hendricks  had  died  in  office. 

Patrick  A.  Collins,  of  Massachusetts,  was  permanent 
president  of  the  body,  and  there  were  no  questions  of  rules 
or  party  policy  to  excite  discussion.  Cleveland's  nomination 
was  unanimous,  and  on  the  single  ballot  for  Vice-President, 
Allen  G.  Thurman,  of  Ohio,  had  690  votes  to  105  for  Isaac 
B.  Gray,  of  Indiana,  and  25  for  John  C.  Black,  of  Illinois. 
The  following  platform  was  unanimously  adopted : 

The  Democratic  party  of  the  United  States,  in  national  conven- 
tion assembled,  renews  the  pledge  of  its  fidelity  to  Democratic  faith, 
and  reaffirms  the  platform  adopted  by  its  representatives  in  the 
convention  of  1884,  and  endorses  the  views  expressed  by  President 
Cleveland  in  his  last  earnest  message  to  Congress  as  the  correct 
interpretation  of  that  platform  upon  the  question  of  tariff  reduc- 
tion; and  also  endorses  the  efforts  of  our  Democratic  representa- 
tives in  Congress  to  secure  a  reduction  of  excessive  taxation. 

Chief  among  its  principles  of  party  faith  are  the  maintenance  of 
an  indissoluble  union  of  free  and  indestructible  States,  now  about 
to  enter  upon  its  second  century  of  unexampled  progress  and 
renown;  devotion  to  a  plan  of  government  regulated  by  a  written 
Constitution  strictly  specifying  every  granted  power  and  expressly 

316 


IJKX.JAMIX    HARRISON 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

reserving  to  the  States  or  people  the  entire  ungranted  residue  of 
power;  the  encouragement  of  a  jealous  popular  vigilance,  directed 
to  all  who  have  been  chosen  for  brief  terms  to  enact  and  execute 
the  laws  and  are  charged  with  the  duty  of  preserving  peace,  insur- 
ing equality,  and  establishing  justice. 

The  Democratic  party  welcomes  an  exacting  scrutiny  of  the 
administration  of  the  Executive  power  which,  four  years  ago.  was 
committed  to  its  trusts  in  the  election  of  Grover  Cleveland,  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States;  but  it  challenges  the  most  searching 
inquiry  concerning  its  fidelity  and  devotion  to  the  pledges  which 
then  invited  the  suffrages  of  the  people.  During  a  most  critical 
period  of  our  financial  affairs,  resulting  from  over-taxation,  the 
anomalous  condition  of  our  currency,  and  a  public  debt  unmatured, 
it  has,  by  the  adoption  of  a  wise  and  conservative  policy,  not  only 
averted  a  disaster,  but  greatly  promoted  the  prosperity  of  the 
people.  It  has  reversed  the  improvident  and  unwise  policy  of  the 
Republican  party  touching  the  public  domain,  and  has  reclaimed 
from  corporations  and  syndicates,  alien  and  domestic,  and  restored 
to  the  people  nearly  one  hundred  millions  of  acres  of  valuable 
land  to  be  sacredly  held  as  homesteads  for  our  citizens. 

While  carefully  guarding  the  interests  of  the  taxpayers  and  con- 
forming strictly  to  the  principles  of  justice  and  equity,  it  has  paid 
out  more  for  pensions  and  bounties  to  the  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the 
Republic  than  was  ever  paid  before  during  an  equal  period. 

It  has  adopted  and  consistently  pursued  a  firm  and  prudent  for- 
eign policy,  preserving  peace  with  all  nations,  while  scrupulously 
maintaining  all  the  rights  and  interests  of  our  own  Government 
and  people  at  home  and  abroad.  The  exclusion  from  our  shores 
of  Chinese  laborers  has  been  effectually  secured  under  the  provision 
of  a  treaty  the  operation  of  which  has  been  postponed  by  the  action 
of  a  Republican  majority  in  the  Senate. 

Honest  reform  in  the  civil  service  has  been  inaugurated  and 
maintained  by  President  Cleveland,  and  he  has  brought  the  public 
service  to  the  highest  standard  of  efficiency,  not  only  by  rule  and 
precept,  but  by  the  example  of  his  own  untiring  and  unselfish  ad- 
ministration of  public  affairs. 

In  every  branch  and  department  of  the  Government  under  Demo- 
cratic control  the  rights  and  welfare  of  all  the  people  have  been 
guarded  and  defended ;  every  public  interest  has  been  protected, 
and  the  equality  of  all  our  citizens  before  the  law,  without  regard 
to  race  or  color,  has  been  steadfastly  maintained. 

Upon  its  record  thus  exhibited,  and  upon  a  pledge  of  a  continu- 
ance to  the  people  of  these  benefits,  the  Democracy  invokes  a  re- 
newal of  popular  trust  by  the  re-election  of  a  Chief  Magistrate  who 
has  been  faithful,  able,  and  prudent.  We  invoke,  in  addition  to 
that  trust,  the  transfer  also  to  the  Democracy  of  the  entire  legisla- 
tive power. 

The  Republican  party  controlling  the  Senate  and  resisting  in 
both  houses  of  Congress  a  reformation  of  unjust  and  unequal  tax 
laws  which  have  outlasted  the  necessities  of  war  and  are  now  un- 
dermining the  abundance  of  a  long  peace,  denies  to  the  people 
equality  before  the  law,  and  the  fairness  and  the  justice  which  are 
their  right.  Thus  the  cry  of  American  labor  for  a  better  share  in 
the  rewards  of  industry  is  stifled  with  false  pretences,  enterprise  is 

317 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

fettered  and  bound  down  to  home  markets,  capital  is  discouraged 
with  doubt,  and  unequal,  unjust  laws  can  neither  be  properly 
amended  nor  repealed.  The  Democratic  party  will  continue  with 
all  the  power  confided  to  it  the  struggle  to  reform  these  laws,  in 
accordance  with  the  pledges  of  its  last  platform,  endorsed  at  the 
ballot-box  by  the  suffrages  of  the  people. 

Of  all  the  industrious  freemen  of  our  land,  the  immense  major- 
ity, including  every  tiller  of  the  soil,  gain  no  advantage  from  ex- 
cessive tax  laws,  but  the  price  of  nearly  everything  they  buy  is 
increased  by  the  favoritism  of  an  unequal  system  of  tax  legislation. 
All  unnecessary  taxation  is  unjust  taxation.  It  is  repugnant  to 
the  creed  of  Democracy  that  by  such  taxation  the  cost  of  the  neces- 
saries of  life  should  be  unjustifiably  increased  to  all  our  people. 
Judged  by  Democratic  principles,  the  interests  of  the  people  are 
betrayed  when,  by  unnecessary  taxation,  trusts  and  combinations 
are  permitted  to  exist  which,  while  unduly  enriching  the  few  that 
combine,  rob  the  body  of  our  citizens  by  depriving  them  of  the 
benefits  of  natural  competition.  Every  Democratic  rule  of  govern- 
mental action  is  violated  when,  through  unnecessary  taxation,  a 
vast  sum  of  money,  far  beyond  the  needs  of  an  economical  adminis- 
tration, is  drawn  from  the  people  and  the  channels  of  trade,  and 
accumulated  as  a  demoralizing  surplus  in  the  national  Treasury. 
The  money  now  lying  idle  in  the  Federal  Treasury,  resulting  from 
superfluous  taxation,  amounts  to  more  than  one  hundred  and  twen- 
ty-five million  dollars,  and  the  surplus  collected  is  reaching  the  sum 
of  more  than  sixty  millions  annually.  Debauched  by  this  im- 
mense temptation,  the  remedy  of  the  Republican  party  is  to  meet 
and  exhaust  by  extravagant  appropriations  and  expenses,  whether 
constitutional  or  not,  the  accumulation  of  extravagant  taxation. 
The  Democratic  policy  is  to  enforce  frugality  in  public  expense, 
and  to  abolish  unnecessary  taxation.  Our  established  domestic  in- 
dustries and  enterprises  should  not,  and  need  not,  be  endangered 
by  the  reduction  and  correction  of  the  burdens  of  taxation.  On 
the  contrary,  a  fair  and  careful  revision  of  our  tax  laws,  with  due 
allowance  for  the  difference  between  the  wages  of  American  and 
foreign  labor,  must  promote  and  encourage  every  branch  of  such 
industries  and  enterprises,  by  giving  them  assurance  of  extended 
market  and  steady  and  continuous  operations  in  the  interests  of 
American  labor,  which  should  in  no  event  be  neglected.  The  revi- 
sion of  our  tax  laws  contemplated  by  the  Democratic  party  should 
promote  the  advantage  of  such  labor,  by  cheapening  the  cost  of  the 
necessaries  of  life  in  the  home  of  every  workman,  and  at  the  same 
time  securing  to  him  steady  and  remunerative  employment.  Upon 
this  question  of  tariff  reform,  so  closely  concerning  every  phase 
of  our  national  life,  and  upon  every  question  involved  in  the  prob- 
lem of  good  government,  the  Democratic  party  submits  its  princi- 
ples and  professions  to  the  intelligent  suffrages  of  the  American 
people. 

Resolved,  That  this  convention  hereby  endorses  and  recom- 
mends the  early  passage  of  the  bill  for  the  reduction  of  the  reve- 
nue now  pending  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 

Resolved,  That  a  just  and  liberal  policy  should  be  pursued  in 
reference  to  the  Territories;  that  right  of  self-government  is  inher- 
ent in  the  people,  and  guaranteed  under  the  Constitution;  that  the 

318 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

Territories  of  Washington,  Dakota.  Montana,  and  New  Mexico 
are,  by  virtue  of  population  and  development,  entitled  to  admission 
into  the  Union  as  States,  and  we  unqualifiedly  condemn  the  course 
of  the  Republican  party  in  refusing  Statehood  and  self-government 
to  their  people. 

Rcsolrcd,  That  \ve  express  our  cordial  sympathy  with  the  strug- 
gling people  of  all  nations,  in  their  efforts  to  secure  for  themselves 
the  inestimable  blessings  of  self-government,  and  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  and  we  especially  declare  our  sympathy  with  the  efforts  of 
those  noble  patriots  who,  led  by  Gladstone  and  Parnell,  have  con- 
ducted their  grand  and  peaceful  contest  for  home  rule  in  Ireland. 

The  Republican  convention  met  at  Chicago  on  the  iQth  of 
June,  with  M.  M.  Estee,  of  California,  as  permanent  presi- 
dent. It  was  assumed  by  the  friends  of  Elaine  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  generally  throughout  the  country,  that  he  did  not 
desire  to  be  nominated  as  the  Republican  candidate  for  Presi- 
dent. Pennsylvania,  where  Elaine's  friends  were  largely  in 
the  ascendency,  declared  in  favor  of  Senator  Sherman,  of 
Ohio.  Senator  Quay  was  at  the  head  of  his  delegation,  with 
instructions  from  the  State  convention  to  support  Sherman, 
and  ex-Governor  Hastings,  then  Adjutant-General,  pre- 
sented the  name  of  Sherman  to  the  convention  in  the  name 
of  Pennsylvania. 

Elaine  was  in  Europe,  and  while  he  evidently  did  not  de- 
sire to  confess  himself  a  candidate,  he  seemed  unwilling  then 
to  make  his  declination  peremptory,  as  he  had  done  in  two 
letters  long  before  the  convention  met.  His  hesitation  de- 
layed the  action  of  the  convention  several  days,  but  finally 
he  authorized  the  withdrawal  of  his  name  from  the  list  of 
candidates,  and  a  very  earnest  contest  was  made  between  the 
friends  of  Sherman,  Gresham,  Alger,  and  Harrison.  Gov- 
ernor Alger  was  largely  supported  by  the  commercial  dele- 
gates from  the  South,  and  Sherman  and  his  friends  bitterly 
complained  that  the  Southern  delegates  had  been  corruptly 
diverted  from  the  Sherman  ranks.  Gresham  represented 
the  more  conservative  Republican  element.  He  was  not  a 
radical  politician,  as  was  shown  by  his  support  of  Cleveland 
in  1892,  but  while  conservative  with  Mugwump  flavor,  it 
was  evident  from  the  demonstrations  made  in  Chicago 
during  the  convention  that  the  labor  elements  of  the  country 
were  very  strongly  in  sympathy  with  him,  although  his  own 
delegation  was  against  him. 

Depew  was  only  an  ornamental  candidate,  and  was  brim- 
ful of  humor  as  lie  mingled  with  the  delegates  and  spec- 

319 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

tators.  He  knew  that  the  Grangers  of  the  West  would  no 
more  vote  for  him  than  they  would  for  the  Czar  of  Russia, 
but  his  State  had  declared  for  him  with  great  unanimity,  and 
he  was  very  cordially  supported  by  a  number  of  friends  out- 
side of  New  York.  It  soon  became  evident  that  Sherman 
could  not  succeed,  as  he  reached  his  highest  vote  on  the 
2d  ballot  and  steadily  declined  thereafter,  while  Harrison 
increased  on  every  ballot  from  the  first  to  the  eighth,  when 
he  was  nominated  by  a  large  majority.  The  following  are 
the  several  ballots  for  President : 


4-> 
| 

£ 

Second. 

Third. 

Fourth. 

,d 

-M 

£ 

.e 
x 

jo 

Seventh. 

A 

4-* 

I 

2 

John  Sherman,  Ohio. 

229 

249 

244 

235 

224 

244 

231 

118 

Walter  Q.  Gresham,  Ind  

111 

108 

123 

98 

87 

91 

91 

59 

Chauncey  M.  Depew,  N.  Y.  ... 
Russell  A.  Alger,  Mich  
Benjamin  Harrison,  Ind  

99 

84 
80 

99 
116 
91 

91 
123 
94 

135 

217 

142 

213 

137 
231 

120 

278 

100 
544 

William  B.  Allison,  Iowa  
James  G.  Blaine,  Me  

72 
35 

75 
33 

88 
35 

88 
42 

99 

48 

73 
40 

76 

15 

5 

John  J.  Ingalls,  Kan  

28 

16 

Jere.  M.  Rusk  Wis 

25 

20 

16 

William  W.  Phelps,  N.  J  
E.  H.  Fitler  Pa. 

25 
24 

18 

5 

— 

— 

— 

- 

- 

Robert  T.  Lincoln,  111  

3 

2 

2 

1 

2 

William  McKinley,  Jr.,  Ohio.... 
Samuel  F  Miller  Iowa 

2 

3 

8 
2 

11 

14 

12 

16 

4 

Frederick  Douglass  

1 

J.  B.  Foraker,  Ohio  

1 

1 

1 

Frederick  D  Grant   N  Y 

1 

Creed  Haymond,  Cal  

1 

One  ballot  was  had  for  Vice-President,  as  follows: 


Blanche  K.  Bruce  (col.),  Miss.  11 
Walter  F.  Thomas,  Texas. ...     1 


Levi  P.  Morton,  N.  Y 591 

Walter  Wm.  Phelps.  N.  J.  119 
Wm.  O.  Bradley,  Ky 103 

The  nomination  of  Morton  was  made  unanimous, 
following  platform  was  unanimously  adopted : 


The 


The  Republicans  of  the  United  States,  assembled  by  their  dele- 
gates in  national  convention,  pause  on  the  threshold  of  their  pro- 
ceedings to  honor  the  memory  of  their  first  great  leader,  the  im- 
mortal champion  of  liberty  and  the  rights  of  the  people,  Abraham 
Lincoln,  and  to  cover  also  with  wreaths  of  imperishable  remem- 
brance and  gratitude  the  heroic  names  of  our  later  leaders,  who 
have  more  recently  been  called  away  from  pur  councils — Grant,  Gar- 
field,  Arthur,  Logan,  Conkling.  May  their  memories  be  faithfully 
cherished.  We  also  recall  with  our  greetings  and  with  prayer  for 


320 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

his  recovery,  the  name  of  one  of  our  living  heroes,  whose  memory 
will  be  treasured  in  the  history  both  of  Republicans  and  of  the 
Republic,  the  name  of  that  noble  soldier  and  favorite  child  of  victory, 
Philip  H.  Sheridan. 

In  the  spirit  of  these  great  leaders,  and  of  our  own  devotion  to 
human  liberty,  and  with  that  hostility  to  all  forms  of  despotism 
and  oppression  which  is  the  fundamental  idea  of  the  Republican 
party,  we  send  fraternal  congratulations  to  our  fellow-Americans 
of  Brazil  upon  their  great  act  of  emancipation,  which  completed 
the  abolition  of  slavery  throughout  the  two  American  continents. 
We  earnestly  hope  that  we  may  soon  congratulate  our  fellow-citizens 
of  Irish  birth  upon  the  peaceful  recovery  of  home  rule  for  Ireland. 

We  reaffirm  our  unswerving  devotion  to  the  national  Constitu- 
tion and  to  the  indissoluble  union  of  the  States;  to  the  autonomy 
reserved  to  the  States  under  the  Constitution ;  to  the  personal 
rights  and  liberties  of  citizens  in  all  the  States  and  Territories  in 
the  Union,  and  especially  to  the  supreme  and  sovereign  right  of 
every  lawful  citizen,  rich  or  poor,  native  or  foreign-born,  white  or 
black,  to  cast  one  free  ballot  in  public  elections,  and  to  have  that 
ballot  duly  counted.  We  hold  the  free  and  honest  popular  ballot 
and  the  just  and  equal  representation  of  all  the  people  to  be  the 
foundation  of  our  republican  Government,  and  demand  effective 
legislation  to  secure  the  integrity  and  purity  of  elections,  which 
are  the  fountains  of  public  authority.  We  charge  that  the  present 
administration  and  the  Democratic  majority  in  Congress  owe  their 
existence  to  the  suppression  of  the  ballot  by  a  criminal  nullification 
of  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States. 

We  are  uncompromisingly  in  favor  of  the  American  system  of 
protection.  We  protest  against  its  destruction,  as  proposed  by  the 
President  and  his  party.  They  serve  the  interests  of  Europe;  we 
will  support  the  interests  of  America.  We  accept  the  issue,  and 
confidently  appeal  to  the  people  for  their  judgment.  The  protec- 
tive system  must  be  maintained.  Its  abandonment  has  always  been 
followed  by  disaster  to  all  interests,  except  those  of  the  usurer 
and  the  sheriff.  We  denounce  the  Mills  bill  as  destructive  to  the 
general  business,  the  labor,  and  the  farming  interests  of  the  country, 
and  we'  heartily  endorse  the  consistent  and  patriotic  action  of  the 
Republican  representatives  in  Congress  opposing  its  passage.  We 
condemn  the  proposition  of  the  Democratic  party  to  place  wool  on 
the  free  list,  and  we  insist  that  the  duties  thereon  shall  be  adjusted 
and  maintained  so  as  to  furnish  full  and  adequate  protection  to 
that  industry.  The  Republican  party  would  effect  all  needed  reduc- 
tion of  the  national  revenue  by  repealing  the  taxes  upon  tobacco, 
which  are  an  annoyance  and  burden  to  agriculture,  and  the  tax 
upon  spirits  used  in  the  arts,  and  for  mechanical  purposes,  and 
by  such  revision  of  the  tariff  laws  as  will  tend  to  check  imports 
of  such  articles  as  are  produced  by  our  people,  the  production  of 
which  gives  employment  to  our  labor,  and  release  from  import  duties 
those  articles  of  foreign  production,  except  luxuries,  the  like  of 
which  cannot  be  produced  at  home.  If  there  shall  still  remain  a 
larger  revenue  than  is  requisite  for  the  wants  of  the  Government, 
we  favor  the  entire  repeal  of  internal  taxes,  rather  than  the  sur- 
render of  any  part  of  our  protective  system,  at  the  joint  behest 
of  the  whiskey  trusts  and  the  agents  of  foreign  manufacturers, 

321 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

We  declare  our  hostility  to  the  introduction  into  this  country  of 
foreign  contract  labor,  and  of  Chinese  labor,  alien  to  our  civiliza- 
tion and  our  Constitution,  and  we  demand  the  rigid  enforcement 
of  the  existing  laws  against  it,  and  favor  such  immediate  legisla- 
tion as  will  exclude  such  labor  from  our  shores. 

We  declare  our  opposition  to  all  combinations  of  capital,  organ- 
ized in  trusts  or  otherwise,  to  control  arbitrarily  the  condition 
of  trade  among  our  citizens,  and  we  recommend  to  Congress  and 
the  State  Legislatures,  in  their  respective  jurisdictions,  such  legisla- 
tion as  will  prevent  the  execution  of  all  schemes  to  oppress  the 
people  by  undue  charges  on  their  supplies,  or  by  unjust  rates  for  the 
transportation  of  their  products  to  market.  We  approve  the  legisla- 
tion by  Congress  to  prevent  alike  unjust  burdens  and  unfair  dis- 
criminations between  the  States. 

We  reaffirm  the  policy  of  appropriating  the  public  lands  of  the 
United  States  to  be  homesteads  for  American  citizens  and  settlers, 
not  aliens,  which  the  Republican  party  established  in  1862,  against 
the  persistent  opposition  of  the  Democrats  in  Congress,  and  which 
has  brought  our  great  Western  domain  into  such  magnificent  de- 
velopment. The  restoration  of  unearned  railroad  land  grants  to  the 
public  domain  for  the  use  of  actual  settlers,  which  was  begun  under 
the  administration  of  President  Arthur,  should  be  continued.  We 
deny  that  the  Democratic  party  has  ever  restored  one  acre  to  the 
people,  but  declare  that  by  the  joint  action  of  the  Republicans  and 
Democrats  about  fifty  millions  of  acres  of  unearned  lands,  originally 
granted  for  the  construction  of  railroads,  have  been  restored  to 
the  public  domain,  in  pursuance  of  the  conditions  inserted  by  the 
Republican  party  in  the  original  grants.  We  charge  the  Demo- 
cratic administration  with  failure  to  execute  the  laws  securing 
to  settlers  title  to  their  homestead,  and  with  using  appropriations 
made  for  that  purpose  to  harass  innocent  settlers  with  spies  and 
prosecutions  under  the  false  pretence  of  exposing  frauds  and  vin- 
dicating the  law. 

The  government  by  Congress  of  the  Territories  is  based  upon 
necessity  only,  to  the  end  that  they  may  become  States  in  the 
Union ;  therefore,  whenever  the  conditions  of  population,  material 
resources,  public  intelligence,  and  morality  are  such  as  to  insure  a 
stable  local  government  therein,  the  people  of  such  Territories 
should  be  permitted,  as  a  right  inherent  in  them,  the  right  to  form 
for  themselves  constitutions  and  State  governments,  and  be  ad- 
mitted into  the  Union.  Pending  the  preparation  for  statehood, 
all  officers  thereof  should  be  selected  from  the  bona-fide  residents 
and  citizens  of  the  Territory  wherein  they  are  to  serve.  South 
Dakota  should,  of  right,  be  immediately  admitted  as  a  State  under 
the  constitution  framed  and  adopted  by  her  people,  and  we  heartily 
endorse  the  action  of  the  Republican  Senate  in  twice  passing  bills 
for  her  admission.  The  refusal  of  the  Democratic  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, for  partisan  purposes,  favorably  to  consider  these  bills 
is  a  wilful  violation  of  the  sacred  American  principle  of  local  self- 
government,  and  merits  the  condemnation  of  all  just  men.  The 
pending  bills  in  the  Senate  for  acts  to  enable  the  people  of  Wash- 
ington, North  Dakota,  and  Montana  Territories  to  form  constitu- 
tions and  establish  State  governments  should  be  passed  without 
unnecessary  delay.  The  Republican  party  pledges  itself  to  do  all 

322 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

in  its  power  to  facilitate  the  admission  of  the  Territories  of  New 
Mexico,  Wyoming,  Idaho  and  Arizona  to  the  enjoyment  of  self- 
government  as  States,  such  of  them  as  are  now  qualified  as  soon 
as  possible,  and  the  others  as  soon  as  they  become  so. 

The  political  power  of  the  Mormon  Church  in  the  Territories  as 
exercised  in  the  past  is  a  menace  to  free  institutions,  a  danger  no 
longer  to  be  suffered ;  therefore,  we  pledge  the  Republican  party  to 
appropriate  legislation,  asserting  the  sovereignty  of  the  nation  in 
all  Territories  where  the  same  is  questioned,  and  in  furtherance  of 
that  end  to  place  upon  the  statute  books  legislation  stringent  enough 
to  divorce  the  political  from  the  ecclesiastical  power,  and  thus  stamp 
out  the  attendant  wickedness  of  polygamy. 

The  Republican  party  is  in  favor  of  the  use  of  both  gold  and 
silver  as  money,  and  condemns  the  policy  of  the  Democratic  ad- 
ministration in  its  efforts  to  demonetize  silver. 

We  demand  the  reduction  of  letter  postage  to  one  cent  per  ounce. 

In  a  Republic  like  ours,  where  the  citizen  is  the  sovereign,  and 
the  official  the  servant,  where  no  power  is  exercised  except  by  the 
will  of  the  people,  it  is  important  that  the  sovereign  and  the  people 
should  possess  intelligence.  The  free  school  is  the  promoter  of 
that  intelligence  which  is  to  preserve  us  a  free  nation,  therefore  the 
State  or  nation,  or  both  combined,  should  support  free  institutions 
of  learning,  sufficient  to  afford  to  every  child  growing  up  in  the 
land  the  opportunity  of  a  good  common  school  education. 

We  earnestly  recommend  that  prompt  action  be  taken  by  Con- 
gress in  the  enactment  of  such  legislation  as  will  best  secure  the 
rehabilitation  of  our  American  merchant  marine;  and  we  protest 
against  the  passage  by  Congress  of  a  free-ship  bill,  as  calculated  to 
work  injustice  to  labor  by  lessening  the  wages  of  those  engaged  in 
preparing  materials  as  well  as  those  directly  employed  in  our  ship- 
yards. 

We  demand  appropriations  for  the  early  rebuilding  of  our  navy; 
for  the  construction  of  coast  fortifications  and  modern  ordnance, 
and  other  approved  modern  means  of  defence  for  the  protection  of 
our  defenceless  harbors  and  cities;  for  the  payment  of  just  pensions 
to  our  soldiers;  for  necessary  works  of  national  importance  in  the 
improvement  of  harbors  and  the  channels  of  internal,  coastwise, 
and  foreign  commerce;  for  the  encouragement  of  the  shipping  in- 
terests of  the  Atlantic,  Gulf,  and  Pacific  States,  as  well  as  for  the 
payment  of  the  maturing  public  debt.  This  policy  will  give  em- 
ployment to  our  labor;  activity  to  our  various  industries;  increase 
the  security  of  our  country ;  promote  trade ;  open  new  and  direct 
markets  for  our  produce,  and  cheapen  the  cost  of  transportation. 
We  affirm  this  to  be  far  better  for  our  country  than  the  Democratic 
policy  of  loaning  the  Government's  money,  without  interest,  to 
"  pet  banks." 

The  conduct  of  foreign  affairs  by  the  present  administration  has 
been  distinguished  by  its  inefficiency  and  its  cowardice.  Having 
withdrawn  from  the  Senate  all  pending  treaties  effected  by  Repub- 
lican administration  for  the  removal  of  foreign  burdens  and  re- 
strictions upon  our  commerce,  and  for  its  extension  into  better 
markets,  it  has  neither  effected  nor  proposed  any  others  in  their 
stead.  Professing  adherence  to  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  it  has  seen, 
with  idle  complacency,  the  extension  of  foreign  influence  in  Cen- 

323 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

tral  America  and  of  foreign  trade  everywhere  among  our  neighbors. 
It  has  refused  to  charter,  sanction  or  encourage  any  American  or- 
ganization for  constructing  the  Nicaragua  Canal — a  work  of  vital 
importance  to  the  maintenance  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  and  of  our 
national  influence  in  Central  and  South  America,  and  necessary  for 
the  development  of  trade  with  our  Pacific  territory,  with  South 
America  and  with  the  islands  and  farther  coasts  of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

We  arraign  the  present  Democratic  administration  for  its  weak 
and  unpatriotic  treatment  of  the  fisheries  question,  and  its  pusil- 
lanimous surrender  of  the  essential  privileges  to  which  our  fish- 
ing vessels  are  entitled  in  Canadian  ports  under  the  treaty  of  1818, 
the  reciprocal  maritime  legislation  of  1830,  and  the  comity  of  na- 
tions, and  which  Canadian  fishing  vessels  receive  in  the  ports  of 
the  United  States.  We  condemn  the  policy  of  the  present  admin- 
istration and  the  Democratic  majority  in  Congress  toward  our 
fisheries  as  unfriendly  and  conspicuously  unpatriotic,  and  as  tend- 
ing to  destroy  a  valuable  national  industry  and  an  indispensable 
resource  of  defence  against  a  foreign  enemy. 

The  name  of  American  applies  alike  to  all  citizens  of  the  Repub- 
lic and  imposes  upon  all  alike  the  same  obligation  of  obedience  to 
the  laws.  At  the  same  time  that  citizenship  is  and  must  be  the 
panoply  and  safeguard  of  him  who  wears  it,  and  protects  him, 
whether  high  or  low,  rich  or  poor,  in  all  his  civil  rights,  it  should 
and  must  afford  him  protection  at  home  and  follow  and  protect 
him  abroad,  in  whatever  land  he  may  be,  on  a  lawful  errand. 

The  men  who  abandoned  the  Republican  party  in  1884,  and  con- 
tinue to  adhere  to  the  Democratic  party,  have  deserted  not  only 
the  cause  of  honest  government,  of  sound  finance,  of  freedom,  of 
purity  of  the  ballot,  but  especially  have  deserted  the  cause  of  reform 
in  the  civil  service.  We  will  not  fail  to  keep  our  pledges  because 
they  have  broken  theirs,  nor  because  their  candidate  has  broken 
his.  We  therefore  repeat  our  declaration  of  1884,  to  wit :  "  The 
reform  of  the  civil  service  auspiciously  begun  under  the  Repub- 
lican administration  should  be  completed  by  the  further  extension 
of  the  reform  system  already  established  by  law,  to  all  the  grades 
of  the  service  to  which  it  is  applicable.  The  spirit  and  purpose  of 
the  reform  should  be  observed  in  all  executive  appointments,  and 
all  laws  at  variance  with  the  object  of  existing  reform  legislation 
should  be  repealed,  to  the  end  that  the  dangers  to  free  institutions, 
which  lurk  in  the  power  of  official  patronage,  may  be  wisely  and 
effectively  avoided." 

The  gratitude  of  the  nation  to  the  defenders  of  the  Union  can- 
not be  measured  by  laws.  The  legislation  of  Congress  should 
conform  to  the  pledge  made  by  a  loyal  people,  and  be  so  enlarged 
and  extended  as  to  provide  against  the  possibility  that  any  man 
who  honorably  wore  the  Federal  uniform  shall  become  an  inmate 
of  an  almshouse,  or  dependent  upon  private  charity.  In  the  pres- 
ence of  an  overflowing  treasury,  it  would  be  a  public  scandal  to  do 
less  for  those  whose  valorous  services  preserved  the  Government. 
We  denounce  the  hostile  spirit  shown  by  President  Cleveland,  in 
his  numerous  vetoes  of  measures  for  pension  relief,  and  the  action 
of  the  Democratic  House  of  Representatives  in  refusing  even  a  con- 
sideration of  general  pension  legislation. 

In  support  of  the  principles  herewith  enunciated,  we  invite  the 

324 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

co-operation  of  patriotic  men  of  all  parties,  and  especially  of  all 
workingmen,  whose  prosperity  is  seriously  threatened  by  the  free- 
trade  policy  of  the  present  administration. 

The  first  concern  of  all  good  government  is  the  virtue  and 
sobriety  of  the  people,  and  the  purity  of  their  homes.  The  Repub- 
lican party  cordially  sympathizes  with  all  wise  and  well-directed 
efforts  for  the  promotion  of  temperance  and  morality. 

There  were  two  distinct  Labor  parties  in  existence  in  1888, 
and  they  both  called  their  national  conventions  to  meet  at 
Cincinnati  on  the  i5th  of  May.  The  Union  Labor  party  was 
the  only  one  whose  candidate  figured  in  the  contest.  Mr. 
Streeter,  its  nominee  for  President,  received  146,935  votes, 
with  only  2418  for  Cowdrey,  who  was  the  candidate  of  the 
United  Labor  party.  The  Union  Labor  Convention  had  rep- 
resentatives from  twenty  States,  and  John  Seitz  was  per- 
manent president.  There  was  no  ballot  for  President,  as 
Alson  J.  Streeter,  of  Illinois,  was  nominated  by  acclamation, 
and  Samuel  Evans,  of  Texas,  was  selected  for  Vice-President 
on  the  ist  ballot,  receiving  124  votes,  to  44  for  T.  P. 
Rynders,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  32  for  Charles  R.  Cunning- 
ham, of  Arkansas.  The  following  platform  was  unani- 
mously adopted : 


General  discontent  prevails  on  the  part  of  the  wealth-producer. 
Farmers  are  suffering  from  a  poverty  which  has  forced  most  of 
them  to  mortgage  their  estates,  and  the  prices  of  products  are  so 
low  as  to  offer  no  relief,  except  through  bankruptcy,  and  laborers 
are  sinking  into  greater  dependence.  Strikes  are  resorted  to  with- 
out bringing  relief,  because  of  the  inability  of  employers,  in  many 
cases,  to  pay  living  wages,  while  more  and  more  are  driven  into 
the  street.  Business  men  find  collections  almost  impossible,  and, 
meantime,  hundreds  of  millions  of  idle  public  money,  which  is 
needed  for  relief,  is  locked  up  in  the  United  States  Treasury,  or 
placed  without  interest  in  favored  banks  in  grim  mockery  of  dis- 
tress. Land  monopoly  flourishes  as  never  before,  and  more  owners 
of  the  soil  are  daily  becoming  tenants.  Great  transportation  cor- 
porations still  succeed  in  extorting  their  profits  on  watered  stock 
through  unjust  charges.  The  United  States  Senate  has  become  an 
open  scandal,  its  membership  being  purchased  by  the  rich  in  open 
defiance  of  the  popular  will.  Various  efforts  are  made  to  squander 
the  public  money,  which  are  designed  to  empty  the  Treasury  with- 
out paying  the  public  debt.  Under  these  and  other  alarming  con- 
ditions, we  appeal  to  the  people  of  our  country  to  come  out  of  old 
party  organizations,  whose  indifference  to  the  public  welfare  is 
responsible  for  this  distress,  and  aid  the  Union  Labor  party  to  repeal 
existing  class  legislation,  and  relieve  the  distress  of  our  industries  by 
establishing  the  following  principles: 

325 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Land.—  While  we  believe  that  the  proper  solution  of  the  finan- 
cial question  will  greatly  relieve  those  now  in  danger  of  losing 
their  homes  by  mortgages  and  foreclosures,  and  enable  all  indus- 
trious persons  to  secure  a  home  as  the  highest  result  of  civilization, 
we  oppose  land  monopoly  in  every  form,  demand  the  forfeiture  of 
unearned  grants,  the  limitation  of  land  ownership,  and  such  other 
legislation  as  will  stop  speculations  in  lands,  and  holding  it  un- 
used from  those  whose  necessities  require  it. 

We  believe  the  earth  was  made  for  the  people,  and  not  to  en- 
able an  idle  aristocracy  to  subsist,  through  rents,  upon  the  toil  of 
the  industrious,  and  that  corners  in  land  are  as  bad  as  corners  in 
food,  and  that  those  who  are  not  residents  or  citizens  should  not 
be  allowed  to  own  lands  in  the  United  States.  A  homestead  should 
be  exempt,  to  a  limited  extent,  from  execution  or  taxation. 

Transportation. — The  means  of  communication  and  transporta- 
tion should  be  owned  by  the  people,  as  is  the  United  States  postal 
service. 

Money. — The  establishment  of  a  national  monetary  system  in  the 
interest  of  the  producer,  instead  of  the  speculator  and  usurer,  by 
which  the  circulating  medium,  in  necessary  quantity  and  full  legal 
tender,  shall  be  issued  directly  to  the  people,  without  the  interven- 
tion of  banks,  or  loaned  to  citizens  upon  land  security  at  a  low 
rate  of  interest,  to  relieve  them  from  extortions  of  usury  and  en- 
able them  to  control  the  money  supply.  Postal  savings  banks 
should  be  established.  While  we  have  free  coinage  of  gold,  we 
should  have  free  coinage  of  silver.  We  demand  the  immediate  ap- 
plication of  all  the  money  in  the  United  States  Treasury  to  the 
payment  of  the  bonded  debt,  and  condemn  the  further  issue  of 
interest-bearing  bonds,  either  by  the  National  Government  or  by 
States,  Territories,  or  municipalities. 

Labor. — Arbitration  should  take  the  place  of  strikes  and  other 
injurious  methods  of  settling  labor  disputes.  The  letting  of  convict 
labor  to  contractors  should  be  prohibited,  the  contract  system  be 
abolished  in  public  works,  the  hours  of  labor  in  industrial  establish- 
ments be  reduced,  commensurate  with  the  increased  production  by 
labor-saving  machinery,  employes  protected  from  bodily  injury, 
equal  pay  for  equal  work  for  both  sexes,  and  labor,  agricultural, 
and  co-operative  associations  be  fostered  and  encouraged  by  law. 
The  foundation  of  a  republic  is  in  the  intelligence  of  its  citizens, 
and  children  who  are  driven  into  workshops,  mines,  and  factories 
are  deprived  of  the  education  which  should  be  secured  to  all  by 
proper  legislation. 

Pensions. — We  demand  the  passage  of  a  service  pension  bill  to 
every  honorably  discharged  soldier  and  sailor  of  the  United  States. 

Income  Tax. — A  graduated  income  tax  is  the  most  equitable 
system  of  taxation,  placing  the  burden  of  Government  on  those 
who  can  best  afford  to  pay,  instead  of  laying  it  on  the  farmers  and 
producers,  and  exempting  millionaire  bondholders  and  corporations. 

United  States  Senate. — We  demand  a  constitutional  amendment 
making  United  States  Senators  elective  by  a  direct  vote  of  the 
people. 

Contract  Labor. — We  demand  the  strict  enforcement  of  laws 
prohibiting  the  importation  of  subjects  of  foreign  countries  under 
contract. 

326 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

Chines f. — We  demand  the  passage  and  enforcement  of  such 
legislation  as  will  absolutely  exclude  the  Chinese  from  the  United 
States. 

Woman  Suffrage. — The  right  to  vote  is  inherent  in  citizenship, 
irrespective  of  sex,  and  is  properly  within  the  province  of  State 
legislation. 

Paramount  Issues. — The  paramount  issues  to  be  solved  in  the 
interests  of  humanity  are  the  abolition  of  usury,  monopoly,  and 
trusts,  and  we  denounce  the  Democratic  and  Republican  parties  for 
creating  and  perpetuating  these  monstrous  evils. 

The  United  Labor  party  had  a  limited  attendance  at  its 
convention.  William  B.  Ogden  was  made  president,  and 
Rev.  Edward  McGlynn,  of  New  York,  a  priest  noted  for  his 
discussion  of  labor  problems,  prepared  and  reported  the  plat- 
form. Robert  H.  Cowdrey,  of  Illinois,  was  nominated  for 
President,  and  W.  H.  T.  Wakefield,  of  Kansas,  for  the  sec- 
ond place  on  the  ticket  without  the  formality  of  a  ballot.  The 
following  platform  was  unanimously  adopted : 

We,  the  delegates  of  the  United  Labor  party  of  the  United  States, 
in  national  convention  assembled,  hold  that  the  corruptions  of  Gov- 
ernment and  the  impoverishment  of  the  masses  result  from  neglect 
of  the  self-evident  truths  proclaimed  by  the  founders  of  this  Repub- 
lic, that  all  men  are  created  equal  and  are  endowed  with  inalienable 
rights.  We  aim  at  the  abolition  of  the  system  which  compels  men 
to  pay  their  fellow-creatures  for  the  use  of  the  common  bounties  of 
nature,  and  permits  monopolizers  to  deprive  labor  of  natural  oppor- 
tunities for  employment. 

We  see  access  to  farming  land  denied  to  labor,  except  on  payment 
of  exorbitant  rent  or  the  acceptance  of  mortgage  burdens,  and  labor, 
thus  forbidden  to  employ  itself,  driven  into  the  cities.  We  see  the 
wage- workers  of  the  cities  subjected  to  this  unnatural  competition, 
and  forced  to  pay  an  exorbitant  share  of  their  scanty  earnings  for 
cramped  and  unhealthful  lodgings.  We  see  the  same  intense  com- 
petition condemning  the  great  majority  of  business  and  professional 
men  to  a  bitter  and  often  unavailing  struggle  to  avoid  bankruptcy ; 
and  that,  while  the  price  of  all  that  labor  produces  ever  falls,  the 
price  of  land  ever  rises. 

We  trace  these  evils  to  a  fundamental  wrong — the  making  of  the 
the  land  on  which  all  must  live  the  exclusive  property  of  but  a  por- 
tion of  the  community.  To  this  denial  of  natural  rights  are  due 
want  of  employment,  low  wages,  business  depressions,  that  intense 
competition  which  makes  it  so  difficult  for  the  majority  of  men  to 
get  a  comfortable  living,  and  that  wrongful  distribution  of  wealth 
which  is  producing  the  millionaire  on  one  side  and  the  tramp  on 
the  other. 

To  give  all  men  an  interest  in  the  land  of  their  country ;  to  enable 
all  to  share  in  the  benefits  of  social  growth  and  improvement;  to 
prevent  the  shutting  out  of  labor  from  employment  by  the  monopo- 
lization of  natural  opportunities;  to  do  away  with  the  one-sided  com- 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

petition  which  cuts  down  wages  to  starvation  rates;  to  restore  life 
to  business,  and  prevent  periodical  depressions;  to  do  away  with  that 
monstrous  injustice  which  deprives  producers  of  the  fruits  of  their 
toil  while  idlers  grow  rich ;  to  prevent  the  conflicts  which  are  array- 
ing class  against  class,  and  which  are  fraught  with  menacing  dangers 
to  society — we  propose  so  to  change  the  existing  system  of  taxation 
that  no  one  shall  be  taxed  on  the  wealth  he  produces,  nor  any  one 
suffered  to  appropriate  wealth  he  does  not  produce  by  taking  to 
himself  the  increasing  values  which  the  growth  of  society  adds  to 
land. 

What  we  propose  is  not  the  disturbing  of  any  man  in  his  holding 
or  title ;  but,  by  taxation  of  land  according  to  its  value  and  not 
according  to  its  area,  to  devote  to  common  use  and  benefit  those 
values  which  arise,  not  from  the  exertion  of  the  individual,  but  from 
the  growth  of  society,  and  to  abolish  all  taxes  on  industry  and  its 
products.  This  increased  taxation  of  land  values  must,  while  reliev- 
ing the  working  farmer  and  small  homestead  owner  of  the  undue 
burdens  now  imposed  upon  them,  make  it  unprofitable  to  hold  land 
for  speculation,  and  thus  throw  open  abundant  opportunities  for  the 
employment  of  labor  and  the  building  up  of  homes.  We  would  do 
away  with  the  present  unjust  and  wasteful  system  of  finance  which 
piles  up  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  in  treasury  vaults  while  we 
are  paying  interest  on  an  enormous  debt;  and  we  would  establish  in 
its  stead  a  monetary  system  in  which  a  legal  tender  circulating  me- 
dium should  be  issued  by  the  Government,  without  the  intervention 
of  banks. 

We  wish  to  abolish  the  present  unjust  and  wasteful  system  of  own- 
ership of  railroads  and  telegraphs  by  private  corporations — a  system 
which,  while  failing  to  supply  adequately  public  needs,  impoverishes 
the  farmer,  oppresses  the  manufacturer,  hampers  the  merchant,  im- 
pedes travel  and  communication,  and  builds  up  enormous  fortunes 
and  corrupting  monopolies  that  are  becoming  more  powerful  than 
the  Government  itself.  For  this  system  we  would  substitute  Gov- 
ernment ownership  and  control  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  people 
instead  of  private  profit. 

While  declaring  the  foregoing  to  be  the  fundamental  principles 
and  aims  of  the  United  Labor  party,  and  while  conscious  that  no 
reform  can  give  effectual  and  permanent  relief  to  labor  that  does 
not  involve  the  legal  recognition  of  equal  rights  to  natural  opportu- 
nities, we,  nevertheless,  as  measures  of  relief  from  some  of  the  evil 
effects  of  ignoring  those  rights,  favor  such  legislation  as  may  tend 
to  reduce  the  hours  of  labor,  to  prevent  the  employment  of  children 
of  tender  years,  to  avoid  the  competition  of  convict  labor  with  hon- 
est industry,  to  secure  the  sanitary  inspection  of  tenements,  facto- 
ries, and  mines,  and  to  put  an  end  to  the  abuse  of  conspiracy  laws. 

We  desire  also  to  simplify  the  procedure  of  our  courts  and  dimin- 
ish the  expense  of  legal  proceedings,  that  the  poor  may  therein  be 
placed  on  an  equality  with  the  rich,  and  the  long  delays  which  now 
result  in  scandalous  miscarriages  of  justice  may  be  prevented.  Since 
the  ballot  is  the  only  means  by  which,  in  our  Republic,  the  redress 
of  political  and  social  grievances  is  to  be  sought,  we  especially  and 
emphatically  declare  for  the  adoption  of  what  is  known  as  the  Aus- 
tralian system  of  voting,  in  order  that  the  effectual  secrecy  of  the 
t,  and  the  relief  of  candidates  for  public  office  from  the  heavy 

328 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

expenses  now  imposed  upon  them,  may  prevent  bribery  and  intimida- 
tion, do  away  with  practical  discriminations  in  favor  of  the  rich  and 
unscrupulous,  and  lessen  the  pernicious  influence  of  money  in  politics. 

\\'e  denounce  the  Democratic  and  Republican  parties  as  hopelessly 
and  shamelessly  corrupt,  and,  by  reason  of  their  affiliation  with 
monopolies,  equally  unworthy  of  the  suffrages  of  those  who  do  not 
live  upon  public  plunder;  we  therefore  require  of  those  who  would 
act  with  us  that  they  sever  all  connection  with  both. 

In  support  of  these  aims,  we  solicit  the  co-operation  of  all  patri- 
otic citizens,  who,  sick  of  the  degradation  of  politics,  desire  by  con- 
stitutional methods  to  establish  justice,  to  preserve  liberty,  to  extend 
the  spirt  of  fraternity,  and  to  elevate  humanity. 

The  Prohibition  Convention  of  1888  was  the  most  notable 
assembly  of  Prohibitionists  ever  held  in  the  country.  It  met 
at  Indianapolis  on  the  2Oth  of  May,  with  several  thousands 
in  attendance  outside  of  the  delegates.  According  to  the  re- 
port of  the  committee  on  credentials  there  were  1029  del- 
egates present.  Among  those  who  participated  in  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  convention  were  James  Black,  the  party  can- 
didate for  President  in  1872,  Neal  Dow,  who  was  the  nom- 
inee in  1880,  and  John  P.  St.  John,  who  led  the  Prohibition- 
ists in  the  Presidential  contest  of  1884.  John  P.  St.  John  was 
the  permanent  president,  and  Clinton  B.  Fisk,  of  New  Jersey, 
was  nominated  for  President,  and  John  A.  Brooks,  of  Mis- 
souri, for  Vice-President  by  acclamation  without  the  for- 
mality of  a  ballot.  The  following  platform  was  adopted  with 
great  enthusiasm : 


The  Prohibition  party,  in  national  convention  assembled,  acknowl- 
edging Almighty  God  as  the  source  of  all  power  in  government,  do 
hereby  declare : 

1.  That  the  manufacture,  importation,  exportation,  transportation, 
and  sale  of  alcoholic  beverages  should  be  made  public  crimes,  and 
punished  as  such. 

2.  That  such  prohibition  must  be  secured  through  amendments  of 
our  National    and    State  Constitutions,  enforced    by  adequate  laws 
adequately  supported  by  administrative  authority;   and  to  this  end 
the  organization  of  the  Prohibition  party  is  imperatively  demanded 
in  State  and  nation. 

3.  That  any  form  of  license,  taxation,  or  regulation  of  the  liquor 
traffic  is  contrary  to  good  government;  that  any  party  which  sup- 
ports  regulation,    license,    or    tax    enters    into    alliance    with    such 
traffic  and  becomes  the  actual  foe  of   the  State's  welfare,  and  that 
we  arraign  the  Republican  and  Democratic  parties  for  their  per- 
sistent attitude  in  favor  of  the  licensed  iniquity,  whereby  they  oppose 
the  demand  of  the  people  for  prohibition,  and,  through  open  com- 
plicity with  the  liquor  cause,  defeat  the  enforcement  of  law. 

329 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

4.  For  the  immediate  abolition  of   the  internal   revenue   system, 
whereby  our  National  Government    is  deriving    support  from  our 
greatest  national  vice. 

5.  That,  an  adequate  public  revenue  being  necessary,  it  may  prop- 
erly be  raised  by  impost  duties  and  by  an  equitable  assessment  upon 
the  property  and  the  legitimate  business  of  the  country,  but  import 
duties  should  be  so  reduced  that  no  surplus  shall  be  accumulated 
in  the  treasury,  and  that  the  burdens  of  taxation  shall  be  removed 
from  foods,  clothing,  and  other  comforts  and  necessaries  of  life. 

6.  That  civil  service  appointments  for  all  civil  offices,  chiefly  cler- 
ical in  their  duties,   should  be  based  upon  moral,   intellectual  and 
physical  qualifications,  and  not  upon  party  service  or  party  necessity. 

7.  That  the  right  of  suffrage  rests  on  no  mere  circumstance  of 
race,  color,  sex  or  nationality,  and  that  where,  from  any  cause,  it 
has  been  held  from  citizens  who  are  of  suitable  age  and  mentally 
and  morally  qualified  for   the    exercise  of    an    intelligent    ballot,  it 
should  be  restored  by  the  people  through  the  Legislatures  of  the  sev- 
eral States,  on  such  educational  basis  as  they  may  deem  wise. 

8.  For  the  abolition  of  polygamy  and  the  establishment  of  uniform 
laws  governing  marriage  and  divorce. 

9.  For  prohibiting  all  combinations  of  capital   to  control   and  to 
increase  the  cost  of  products  for  popular  consumption. 

10.  For  the  preservation  and  defence  of  the   Sabbath  as  a  civil 
institution  without  oppressing  any  who  religiously  observe  the  same 
on  any  other  day  than  the  first  day  of  the  week. 

11.  That  arbitration  is  the  Christian,  wise,  and  economic  method 
of  settling  national  differences,  and  the  same  method  should,  by  judi- 
cious legislation,  be  applied  to  the  settlement  of  disputes  between 
large  bodies  of  employes  and  employers;  that  the  abolition  of  the 
saloons  would  remove  the  burdens,  moral,  physical,  pecuniary,  and 
social,   which   now   oppress   labor   and   rob   it   of   its   earnings,    and 
would  prove  to  be  the  wise  and  successful  way  of  promoting  labor 
reform;  and  we  invite  labor  and  capital  to  unite  with  us  for  the 
accomplishment  thereof;  that  monopoly  in  land  is  a  wrong  to  the 
people,  and  the  public  land  should  be  reserved  to  actual  settlers,  and 
that  men  and  women  should  receive  equal  wages  for  equal  work. 

12.  That  our  immigration  laws  should  be  so  enforced  as  to  pre- 
vent the  introduction  into  our  country  of  all  convicts,   inmates  of 
other  dependent  institutions,  and  of  others  physically  incapacitated 
for  self-support,  and  that  no  person  should  have  the  ballot  in  any 
State  who  is  not  a  citizen  of  the  United  States. 

Recognizing  and  declaring  that  prohibition  of  the  liquor  traffic 
has  become  the  dominant  issue  in  national  politics,  we  invite  to  full 
party  fellowship  all  those  who,  on  this  one  dominant  issue,  are  with 
us  agreed,  in  the  full  belief  that  this  party  can  and  will  remove  sec- 
tional differences,  promote  national  unity,  and  insure  the  best  welfare 
of  our  entire  land. 


Another  convention  was  held  at  Washington  on  the  I4th 
of  August,  composed  of  a  few  fragments  of  the  old  American 
party.  The  fact  that  it  polled  in  the  entire  country  only  1590 
votes  for  its  candidates  showed  that  it  was  practically  with- 

330 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

out  constituents.  It  was  natural  enough  that  the  national 
convention  of  a  party  made  up  almost  wholly  of  ambitious 
and  discordant  leaders  should  have  a  split,  and  they  managed 
to  get  up  a  row  and  have  a  secession  of  the  delegates  repre- 
senting a  number  of  States  on  the  simple  question  of  how  the 
delegates  should  vote.  The  seceders,  however,  made  no  nom- 
inations. After  the  dissatisfied  delegates  had  left  the  con- 
vention, only  the  delegates  from  New  York  and  California 
remained,  but  they  were  80  of  the  126  delegates  all  told. 
They  nominated  James  Langdon  Curtis,  of  New  York,  for 
President,  and  James  R.  Greer,  of  Tennessee,  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent. Mr.  Greer  declined  the  nomination,  and  I  can  find  no 
record  of  any  one  having  been  chosen  in  his  place.  The  fol- 
lowing platform  was  adopted : 


Resolved,  That  all  law-abiding  citizens  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  whether  native  or  foreign  born,  are  politically  equals  (ex- 
cept as  provided  by  the  Constitution),  and  all  are  entitled  to,  and 
should  receive,  the  full  protection  of  the  laws. 

Resolved,  That  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  should  be 
so  amended  as  to  prohibit  the  Federal  and  State  Governments  from 
conferring  upon  any  person  the  right  to  vote  unless  such  person  be 
a  citizen  of  the  United  States. 

Resolved,  That  we  are  in  favor  of  fostering  and  encouraging 
American  industries  of  every  class  and  kind,  and  declare  that  the 
assumed  issue  "  Protection"  vs.  "  Free  Trade"  is  a  fraud  and  a 
snare.  The  best  "  protection"  is  that  which  protects  the  labor  and 
life  blood  of  the  Republic  from  the  degrading  competition  with  and 
contamination  by  imported  foreigners ;  and  the  most  dangerous 
"  free  trade"  is  that  in  paupers,  criminals,  communists,  and  an- 
archists, in  which  the  balance  has  always  been  against  the  United 
States. 

Whereas,  One  of  the  greatest  evils  of  unrestricted  foreign  immi- 
gration is  the  reduction  of  the  wages  of  the  American  working-man 
and  working-woman  to  the  level  of  the  underfed  and  underpaid  labor 
of  foreign  countries ;  therefore,  * 

Resolved,  That  we  demand  that  no  immigrant  shall  be  admitted 
into  the  United  States  without  a  passport  obtained  from  the  Amer- 
ican consul  at  the  port  from  which  he  sails ;  that  no  passport  shall  be 
issued  to  any  pauper,  criminal,  or  insane  person,  or  to  any  person 
who,  in  the  judgment  of  the  consul,  is  not  likely  to  become  a  desira- 
ble citizen  of  the  United  States ;  and  that  for  each  immigrant  pass- 
port there  shall  be  collected  by  the  consul  issuing  the  same  the  sum 
of  one  hundred  dollars  to  be  by  him  paid  into  the  Treasury  of  the 
United  States. 

Resolved,  That  the  present  naturalization  laws  of  the  United 
States  should  be  unconditionally  repealed. 

Resolved,  That  the  soil  of  America  should  belong  to  Americans ; 
that  no  alien  non-resident  should  be  permitted  to  own  real  estate 

331 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

in  the  United  States ;  and  that  the  realty  possessions  of  the  resident 
alien  should  be  limited  in  value  and  area. 

Resolved,  That  no  flag  shall  float  on  any  public  buildings,  munici- 
pal, State,  or  national,  in  the  United  States,  except  the  municipal, 
State,  or  national  flag  of  the  United  States — the  flag  of  the  stars  and 
stripes. 

Resolved,  That  we  reassert  the  American  principles  of  absolute 
freedom  of  religious  worship  and  belief,  the  permanent  separation 
of  Church  and  State ;  and  we  oppose  the  appropriation  of  public 
money  or  property  to  any  church,  or  institution  administered  by  a 
church.  We  maintain  that  all  church  property  should  be  subject  to 
taxation. 

The  contest  of  1888  differed  from  the  Cleveland  contest  of 
1884  in  its  freedom  from  vituperation  and  bitterness.  It  was 
conducted  with  earnestness  and  dignity  on  both  sides. 
Neither  of  the  candidates  greatly  enthused  the  rank  and  file 
of  their  party,  as  did  Blaine  and  Hancock  in  former  national 
conflicts,  but  they  commanded  not  only  the  entire  confidence 
and  respect  of  their  parties,  but  also  of  the  whole  country. 
/Cleveland  took  little  personal  part  in  the  conflict,  but  Har- 
rrison  made  a  most  vigorous  and  telling  campaign  by  his 
almost  daily  speeches  delivered  to  visiting  delegations  at 
Indianapolis,  in  which  he  discussed  every  phase  of  the  public 
questions  of  the  day.  These  addresses  were  doubtless  care- 
fully prepared  and  given  to  the  associated  press,  but  they 
were  not  only  very  able,  but  they  were  singularly  versatile 
and  adroit,  and~presented  Harrison  to  the  public  in  an  en- 
tirely new  light^i,  I  cannot  recall  another  Presidential  con- 
test that  was  conducted  on  both  sides  with  greater  dignity 
and  decency  than  that  between  Cleveland  and  Harrison  in 
1888.  Nearly  equal  respect  was  shown  to  both  candidates  in 
the  Garfield-Hancock  contest  of  1880,  but  the  famous  forgery 
of  the  Morey  letter  to  control  the  vote  of  the  Pacific  States 
against  Garfield  and  the  Credit  Mobilier  scandal  marred  the 
dignity  of  that  conflict. 

The  following  table  exhibits  the  popular  and  electoral  vote 
of  1888: 


AND^HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


STATES. 

POPULAR  VOTE. 

ELECTORAL 
VOTE. 

Benjamin  Harrison, 
Republican. 

Grover  Cleveland, 
Democrat. 

Clinton  B.  Fisk, 
Prohibitionist. 

Alson  J.  Streeter, 
Union  Labor. 

Harrison  and  Morton. 

Cleveland  and  Thur- 
man. 

Alabama 

56,197 
58,752 
124,816 
50,774 
74,584 
12,973 
26,657 
40,496 
370,473 
263,361 
211,598 
182,934 
155,134 
30,484 
73,734 
99,986 
183,892 
236,370 
142,492 
30,096 
236,257 
108,425 
7,229 
45,728 
144,344 
648,759 
134,784 
416,054 
33,291 
526,091 
21,968 
13,736 
138,988 
88,422 
45,192 
150,438 
77,791 
176,553 

117,320 
85,962 
117,729 
37,567 
74,920 
16,414 
39,561 
100,499 
348,278 
261,013 
179,887 
103,744 
183,800 
85,032 
50,481 
106,168 
151,856 
213,459 
104,385 
85,471 
261,974 
80,552 
5,362 
43,458 
151,493 
635,757 
147,902 
396,455 
26,522 
446,633 
17,530 
65,825 
158,779 
234,883 
16,785 
151,977 
79,664 
155,232 

583 
641 
5,761 
2,191 
4,234 
400 
423 
1,808 
21,695 
9,881 
3,550 
6,768 
5,225 
160 
2,691 
4,767 
8,701 
20,942 
15,311 
218 
4,539 
9,429 
41 
1,593 
7,904 
30,231 
2,787 
24,356 
1,677 
20,947 
1,250 

5,969 
4,749 
1,460 
1,678 
669 
14,277 

10,613 

1,266 
240 

136 
7,090 
2,694 
9,105 
37,726 
622 
39 
1,344 

4,541 
1,094 
22 
18,632 
4,226 

13 

626 
32 

3,873 
18 

48 
29,459 

1,064 
8,552 

8 
3 

22 
15 
13 
9 

6 

14 
13 

7 

5 
3 

4 

36 

23 
3 
30 
4 

4 
11 

10 

7 

6 
3 
4 
12 

13 

8 

8 

9 

16 

9 
11 

9 
12 
13 

12 
6 

Arkansas 

California* 

Colorado  

Connecticut 

Delaware 

Florida 

Georgia 

Illinoisf 

Indiana 

Iowa  .    . 

Kansas        .  . 

Kentucky  

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland. 

Massachusetts 

Michigan.  . 

Minnesota  

Mississippi  

Missouri 

Nebraska  

Nevada  

New  Hampshire  .  .  . 
New  Jersey  

New  Yorki  

North  Carolina    ... 
Ohio  

Oregon  

Pennsylvania  .  .  . 

Rhode  Island  

South  Carolina. 

Tennessee  . 

Texas  

Vermont  

Virginia  

West  Virginia  
Wisconsin. 

Total 

5,439,853 

5,540,329 

249,506 

146,934 

233 

168 

*  1,531  for  Curtis,  American. 
1 2,268  for  Cowdrey. 


1 150  for  Cowdrey,  United  Labor. 


333 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Cleveland  lost  his  election  in  1888  by  his  message  to 
Congress,  delivered  a  year  before,  making  the  tariff  and 
revenue  question  the  sole  issue  before  the  country.  His 
message  referred  to  no  other  question  than  the  issue  of 
reduced  revenues  and  taxes.  I  saw  him  on  Saturday  night 
before  the  meeting  of  Congress,  and  with  Speaker  Carlisle, 
who  was  to  be  re-elected  to  the  Speakership  on  the  following 
Monday,  earnestly  urged  him  to  modify  his  message.  Car- 
lisle was  quite  as  positive  as  I  was  in  assuring  him  that  it 
would  result  in  disaster  to  himself  and  his  administration. 
His  answer  was  that  possibly  we  were  right,  but  that  it  was 
a  duty  that  should  be  performed,  and  while  he  might  fall, 
he  believed  the  country  would  vindicate  him  at  an  early  day. 
He  was  a  man  who  gave  very  serious  thought  to  his  official 
duties,  performed  them  with  great  fidelity,  and  when  con- 
vinced as  to  his  duty  none  could  dissuade  him  from  his 
purpose.  But  for  that  message  he  would  certainly  have  been 
re-elected  President  in  1888. 

Cleveland  entered  the  Presidency  enjoying  the  confidence 
and  respect  of  the  country  in  a  much  larger  degree  than  is 
usually  accorded  to  new  Presidents.  His  record  as  Mayor  of 
Buffalo,  as  Governor  of  New  York,  and  his  political  and 
official  utterances  generally  were  all  in  the  line  of  the  purest 
and  best  politics,  and  the  sturdiness  with  which  he  main- 
tained his  convictions  even  against  all  considerations  of  ex- 
pediency compelled  the  respect  alike  of  friend  and  foe.  No 
more  conscientious  man  ever  filled  the  Executive  chair  of  the 
nation,  and  I  doubt  whether  any  other  President  gave  such 
tireless  labor  to  the  duties  of  the  office.  His  Cabinet  officers 
were  simply  advisory  as  to  the  direction  of  their  departments, 
and  every  question  of  importance  came  to  him  for  final  de- 
cision. I  think  he  was  as  nearly  capable  of  giving  up  the 
Presidency  to  maintain  his  convictions  as  any  man  who  ever 
filled  the  position. 

He  certainly  knew  when  he  sent  his  tariff  message  to  Con- 
gress against  the  advice  of  nearly  all  of  those  upon  whose 
political  judgment  he  most  depended,  that  he  was  inviting 
political  disaster,  and  that  he  was  inviting  it  when  the  Repub- 
lican leaders  freely  confessed  their  inability  to  defeat  his  re- 
election. He  had  inspired  the  interest  of  the  best  political 
elements  of  the  country  by  his  courageous  support  of  civil 
service  reform,  that  was  then  in  its  infancy.  He  did  it  with 
the  full  knowledge  that  he  had  a  party  behind  him  that  was 

334 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

most  unwilling  to  surrender  the  spoils  of  power  to  any  sen- 
timent, however  sacred.  I  met  him  very  often  during  his  first 
term,  and  was  sometimes  invited  to  come  to  the  Executive 
Mansion  after  ten  o'clock  at  night,  when  he  would  willingly 
converse  until  the  small  hours  in  the  morning.  These  habits 
were  improved  when  the  beautiful  and  accomplished  wife 
came  as  mistress  to  the  White  House,  and  it  was  delightful 
to  see  his  ordinarily  rather  heavy  face  brighten  when  he 
spoke  of  the  woman  who  had  brought  into  his  life  a  measure 
of  happiness  to  which  he  had  ever  before  been  stranger.  I 
met  him  frequently  during  the  contest  of  1888,  and  while  he 
hoped  that  he  might  be  re-elected  he  was  not  confident.  I 
saw  him  soon  after  his  defeat,  and  no  man  ever  bore  great 
political  disaster  with  such  serene  philosophy.  He  knew  that 
his  tariff  message  had  defeated  him,  but  he  said  that  he 
believed  it  better  that  he  should  be  thus  defeated  than  not  to 
have  faced  the  issue  as  he  did. 

In  reviewing  the  contest,  he  said  that  he  had  but  a  single 
unpleasant  memory  of  it  and  its  results,  and  that  was  that 
the  malicious  scandals  of  some  of  his  most  unscrupulous  foes 
relating  to  his  domestic  life  had  brought  sorrow  to  the  "  dear 
little  woman,"  to  use  his  own  expression,  who  deserved  the 
respect  and  protection  of  every  one.  Some  of  the  desperate 
Tammany  leaders  had  formulated  the  scandals  against  Cleve- 
land's domestic  life,  distributed  them  broadcast  in  a  circular 
at  the  St.  Louis  convention,  and  there  are  always  many  whose 
political  prejudices  make  them  welcome  and  accept  such 
assaults  upon  a  political  nominee.  I  was  much  with  Cleve- 
land during  his  first  and  second  terms  of  the  Presidency,  and 
also  during  the  interval,  and  a  more  affectionate  and  devoted 
husband  I  have  never  seen.  He  was  not  a  man  to  exhibit  the 
arts  of  the  demagogue,  for  to  them  he  was  an  entire  stranger, 
but  I  saw  him  tell  the  story  of  his  home  life  more  eloquently 
than  words  could  ever  have  given  it,  when,  on  the  4th  of 
March,  1893,  as  he  was  about  to  leave  the  large  parlor  of  the 
Arlington,  crowded  with  his  many  friends,  to  go  to  the  in- 
auguration ceremony,  he  stepped  up  to  his  wife,  gave  her  a 
hearty  kiss  and  affectionately  patted  her  on  the  head,  as  he 
bowed  himself  off  to  accept  the  highest  civil  trust  of  the 
world. 

Greatly  as  Cleveland's  tariff  message  had  obstructed  his 
election,  he  would  have  succeeded  but  for  the  perfidy  of  Tam- 
many. He  carried  the  country  by  nearly  100,000  popular 

»«  335 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

majority,  being  much  larger  than  the  popular  majority  he  re- 
ceived in  1884,  but  the  electoral  vote  of  New  York  lost  him 
the  Presidency.  The  betrayal  of  Cleveland  by  Tammany 
was  clearly  evident  by  the  returns  of  the  election  in  that 
State.  Cleveland  was  at  the  head  of  the  Democratic  ticket 
for  President,  and  Governor  Hill,  the  favorite  of  Tammany, 
was  on  the  same  ticket  for  Governor,  and  he  was  re-elected 
by  a  majority  of  19,171,  while  Cleveland  lost  the  State  by  a 
majority  of  14,373.  Tammany  and  Mr.  Dana,  of  the  Sun, 
that  was  then  the  Tammany  organ,  had  their  revenge. 


THE  CLEVELAND-HARRISON- 
WEAVER  CONTEST 

1892 

PRESIDENT  HARRISON  had  anything  but  a  tranquil  adminis- 
tration. Soon  after  his  inauguration  bitter  factional  strife 
was  developed,  and  he  seemed  never  to  be  able  to  get  into 
anything  approaching  close  and  sympathetic  relations  with 
the  leaders  of  his  party.  He  was  much  like  Cleveland  in  his 
conscientious  devotion  to  his  public  duties,  and  he  was  poorly 
equipped  and  had  little  taste  for  political  direction.  He  was 
generally  respected  by  the  people  of  all  parties,  but  he  held 
the  political  leaders  of  his  own  faith  at  arm's  length.  Senator 
Quay  called  upon  him  soon  after  his  inauguration,  expecting 
to  receive  the  generous  thanks  of  the  President  for  his  man- 
agement of  the  desperate  campaign  that  had  given  him  and 
the  party  victory ;  but  Quay's  political  trust  in  his  chieftain 
was  greatly  chilled  as  the  President  congratulated  his  Field 
Marshal  that  Providence  had  been  with  them  in  the  contest 
and  carried  them  safely  through.  While  Quay  is  of  the  same 
old-school  Presbyterian  stock  as  Harrison,  and  had  the  train- 
ing of  his  Presbyterian  minister  father,  his  faith  in  foreordi- 
nation  was  not "  so  rugged  as  to  assume  that  Providence 
would  have  carried  Harrison  through  if  Quay  had  not  ex- 
hausted all  political  resources,  regular  and  irregular,  to 
wrest  New  York  from  Cleveland  and  give  Harrison  the  vic- 
tory. Cameron,  who  had  served  in  the  Senate  with  Harrison, 
while  he  had  entire  faith  in  the  integrity  and  ability  of  the 
new  President,  had  no  faith  in  his  political  usefulness,  and 
from  the  start  there  were  not  the  most  cordial  relations 
between  the  Pennsylvania  Senators  and  the  administration. 

Harrison  had  failed  to  carry  the  popular  majority  over 
Cleveland,  and  the  Republican  majority  in  both  Senate  and 
House  was  regarded  as  too  small  for  the  present  and  future 

337 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

safety  of  the  party.  It  was  this  political  necessity  that  led 
to  the  admission  of  the  six  new  States  of  North  and  South 
Dakota,  Montana,  Idaho,  Washington,  and  Wyoming,  which 
were  expected  to  bring  12  additional  Republican  Senators,  7 
additional  Republican  Congressmen,  and  19  additional  Re- 
publican electoral  votes.  How  sadly  the  Republican  leaders 
miscalculated  on  these  new  States  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
Idaho  and  North  Dakota  voted  for  Weaver,  while  Montana 
and  Wyoming  were  saved  by  nominal  majorities,  and  all  of 
these  States,  with  the  exception  of  North  Dakota,  voted 
against  the  Republican  candidate  for  President  in  1896. 

The  small  Republican  majority  in  the  House  was  rapidly 
and  ruthlessly  increased  by  admitting  Republican  contestants 
regardless  of  the  merits  of  their  claims,  and  the  whole  policy 
of  the  Republican  leadership,  outside  of  Harrison  himself, 
who  did  not  inspire  it,  was  to  maintain  Republican  supremacy 
by  might,  regardless  of  right.  Not  only  were  six  new  States 
added,  but  a  new  Force  bill  was  decided  upon  to  restore 
Republican  supremacy  in  the  South.  The  attempt  to  revive 
such  a  measure  was  simply  midsummer  madness,  as  it  was 
opposed  by  the  entire  conservative  Republican  element  and 
arrayed  the  South  in  implacable  hostility  to  the  administra- 
tion. Blaine  had  defeated  the  Force  bill  when  it  was  urged 
under  the  Grant  administration,  and  Senator  J.  Donald 
Cameron  defeated  it  under  the  Harrison  administration. 
Cameron  had  decided  the  contest  between  M.  C.  Butler, 
Democrat,  and  David  T.  Corbin,  Republican,  of  South 
Carolina,  in  1877.  Corbin  was  one  of  the  ablest  of  the  South 
Carolina  carpet-baggers,  and  was  elected  by  the  Republican 
Legislature,  that  had  been  finally  dispersed  by  President 
Hayes  refusing  to  support  it,  and  Butler  had  been  elected 
by  the  Hampton  or  Democratic  Legislature. 

There  was  a  peculiar  condition  of  affairs  in  South  Carolina 
at  the  time.  Patterson,  the  Republican  Senator  from  that 
State,  was  a  fugitive  after  the  Hampton  Government  attained 
power,  and  Small,  Cardoza,  and  a  number  of  other  colored 
leaders  and  officials  in  the  State  were  under  indictment  for 
embezzlement  and  other  frauds,  and  some  of  them  had  been 
convicted.  On  the  other  side,  a  number  of  Democratic 
citizens  of  South  Carolina  were  under  indictment  in  the 
Federal  Courts  for  outrages  perpetrated  by  them  in  the 
Ku  Klux  organization,  and  had  the  course  of  justice  been 
permitted  to  go  on  without  interruption,  a  large  number  of 

338 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

the  leaders  of  both  sides  would  have  ended  in  prison.  A 
truce  was  agreed  upon,  and  finally  an  unwritten  but  well- 
maintained  agreement  was  reached  that  there  should  be  no 
further  prosecution  of  the  Ku  Klux  clan,  and  no  further 
prosecution  of  Senator  Patterson  or  any  of  the  other  Repub- 
licans who  were  then  at  the  mercy  of  the  Democrats.  This 
was  assented  to  by  the  Democrats  on  condition  that  Butler 
should  be  admitted  to  the  Senate,  and  Cameron  was  the 
man  who  accomplished  it. 

When  the  new  Force  bill  came  up  under  the  Harrison 
administration,  Cameron  was  earnestly  opposed  to  it,  and 
he  is  entitled  to  the  full  credit  of  having  defeated  it.  His 
Senatorial  term  expired  on  the  4th  of  March,  1891,  and  he 
was  a  candidate  for  re-election  before  a  Republican  Legis- 
lature that  had  been  chosen  in  the  fall  of  1890,  when  the 
Democrats  elected  Pattison,  Democrat,  to  his  second  term 
as  Governor.  It  was  expected  that  the  vote  on  the  Force 
bill  would  be  had  before  the  Senatorial  election,  and  Cameron 
was  threatened  with  defeat  if  he  did  not  line  up  with  the 
party  in  its  favor.  A  majority  of  the  considerate  Repub- 
licans of  Pennsylvania  doubtless  agreed  with  him,  but  he 
had  many  political  enemies,  and  they  would  have  been  glad 
had  he  given  them  an  opportunity  to  attack  him  as  opposing 
the  accepted  policy  of  the  party. 

Some  time  before  the  Legislature  met,  Cameron  requested 
me  to  meet  him  at  the  Continental  Hotel  in  Philadelphia. 
He  stated  the  case  frankly;  said  he  could  command  the 
Republican  nomination  for  Senator  without  a  doubt  and 
by  a  large  majority,  but  that  if  the  Democrats  would  unite 
with  the  bolting  Republicans,  he  might  be  defeated  if  a  vote 
was  reached  on  the  Force  bill  before  the  Senatorial  election 
and  he  voting  against  it.  What  he  desired  was  the  assur- 
ance that  if  Cameron  was  threatened  with  defeat  by  the 
Republicans  because  of  his  opposition  to  the  Force  bill,  the 
Democrats  should  not  permit  him  to  be  crucified  for  opposing 
and  defeating  a  bill  that  they  were  most  anxious  to  have 
defeated.  Pattison  had  been  elected  Governor  and  William 
F.  Harrity  had  been  announced  as  the  coming  Secretary  of 
the  Commonwealth.  I  said  to  Cameron  that  both  of  them 
were  within  two  squares  of  us  and  that  I  could  ascertain 
their  views  in  a  very  few  minutes.  I  immediately  called  on 
Pattison  and  Harrity,  presented  the  case  to  them,  and  they 
both  authorized  me  to  give  the  assurance  to  Senator  Cameron 

339 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

that  if  he  were  opposed  by  Republicans  because  of  his 
opposition  to  the  Force  bill,  the  Democrats  would  not 
permit  him  to  be  sacrificed  for  what  they  would  regard 
as  one  of  the  bravest  and  most  patriotic  of  his  public  acts. 
That  assurance  was  given  to  Cameron,  and  he  was  then  safe. 
It  became  well  known  to  the  anti-Cameron  Republicans  that 
the  Democrats  would  not  permit  him  to  be  sacrificed.  The 
result  was  that  Cameron  was  elected  by  Republican  votes, 
although  his  position  on  the  Force  bill  was  well  understood. 

There  were  thus  many  disturbing  elements  in  the  Repub- 
lican ranks,  and  one  of  the  most  serious  was  the  McKinley 
Tariff  bill  of  1890.  President  McKinley  was  then  chairman 
of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  and  the  Tariff  bill 
of  1890  was  known  as  the  McKinley  Tariff,  but  it  is  due 
to  him  to  say  that  he  was  overruled  in  many  of  its  most 
offensive  features,  and  some  of  the  most  important  schedules 
were  made  by  the  manufacturers  interested,  who  had,  in 
accordance  with  positive  promises  given  them,  made  large 
contributions  to  the  Republican  campaign  fund  of  1888. 

I  happened  to  be  a  guest  at  a  public  dinner  and  seated 
beside  McKinley  a  short  time  before  the  election  of  1890, 
and  soon  after  the  McKinley  bill  had  passed.  He  discussed 
the  situation  freely,  and  was  evidently  concerned  as  to  the 
result  of  the  coming  election,  as  there  was  but  little  time 
after  the  passage  of  the  bill  for  the  people  to  understand  it, 
but  he  was  confident  that  it  would  be  sustained.  In  that 
he  was  greatly  mistaken,  as  the  Republicans  never  suffered 
such  a  disastrous  defeat  as  that  of  1890,  due  almost  wholly 
to  the  McKinley  Tariff.  True,  the  elections  of  1891  showed 
that  the  Republicans  had  regained  some  of  their  losses  of 
1890,  but  when  the  Republican  convention  met  to  nominate 
a  candidate  the  contest  was  regarded  as  at  least  doubtful 
by  the  more  intelligent  and  considerate  Republican  leaders, 
and  the  political  situation  was  greatly  intensified  by  Elaine 
suddenly  retiring  from  the  Cabinet  three  days  before  the 
convention  met.  His  letter  of  resignation  was  curt  and 
emphatic.  It  was  notice  to  the  country  that  Elaine  had 
ceased  to  be  in  sympathy  with  the  Harrison  administration. 

The  Republican  convention  met  at  Minneapolis  on  the 
7th  of  June,  with  J.  Sloat  Fassett  as  temporary  chairman 
and  Governor  William  McKinley,  of  Ohio,  as  permanent 
president.  When  McKinley  accepted  the  presidency  of  the 
convention  he  did  not  expect  to  be  a  candidate  for  nomina- 

340 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

tion,  but  the  swiftly  changing  events  of  American  politics 
made  him  what  was  regarded  as  a  hopeful  candidate  before 
a  ballot  was  reached,  and  he  was  voted  for  by  all  of  his 
Ohio  delegates,  excepting  himself,  who  voted  for  Harrison. 
The  ist  and  only  ballot  resulted  as  follows: 

Benjamin  Harrison,  Ind...535£     II    Thomas  B.  Reed,  Maine 4 

James  G.  Elaine,  Maine.  ..182£  Robert  T.  Lincoln,  Illinois..  1 
Wm.  McKinley,  Jr.,  Ohio..  182  || 

Whitelaw  Reid,  of  New  York,  was  nominated  for  Vice- 
President  by  acclamation.  The  following  platform  was 
unanimously  adopted : 

The  representatives  of  the  Republicans  of  the  United  States,  as- 
sembled in  general  convention  on  the  shores  of  the  Mississippi  River, 
the  everlasting  bond  of  an  indestructible  republic,  whose  most 
glorious  chapter  of  history  is  the  record  of  the  Republican  party, 
congratulate  their  countrymen  on  the  majestic  march  of  the  nation 
under  the  banners  inscribed  with  the  principles  of  our  platform  of 
1888,  vindicated  by  victory  at  the  polls  and  prosperity  in  our  fields, 
workshops,  and  mines,  and  make  the  following  declaration  of  prin- 
ciples : 

We  reaffirm  the  American  doctrine  of  protection.  We  call  atten- 
tion to  its  growth  abroad.  We  maintain  that  the  prosperous  condi- 
tion of  our  country  is  largely  due  to  the  wise  revenue  legislation  of 
the  Republican  Congress. 

We  believe  that  all  articles  which  cannot  be  produced  in  the  United 
States,  except  luxuries,  should  be  admitted  free  of  duty,  and  that 
on  all  imports  coming  into  competition  with  the  products  of  Amer- 
ican labor  there  should  be  levied  duties  equal  to  the  difference  be- 
tween wages  abroad  and  at  home. 

We  assert  that  the  prices  of  manufactured  articles  of  general  con- 
sumption have  been  reduced  under  the  operations  of  the  Tariff  Act 
of  1890. 

We  denounce  the  efforts  of  the  Democratic  majority  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  to  destroy  our  tariff  laws  piecemeal,  as  is  mani- 
fested by  their  attacks  upon  wool,  lead,  and  lead  ores,  the  chief  prod- 
ucts of  a  number  of  States,  and  we  ask  the  people  for  their  judgment 
thereon. 

We  point  to  the  success  of  the  Republican  policy  of  reciprocity, 
under  which  our  export  trade  has  vastly  increased,  and  new  and 
enlarged  markets  have  been  opened  for  the  products  of  our  farms 
and  workshops. 

We  remind  the  people  of  the  bitter  opposition  of  the  Democratic 
party  to  this  practical  business  measure,  and  claim  that,  executed  by 
a  Republican  administration,  our  present  laws  will  eventually  give  us 
control  of  the  trade  of  the  world. 

The  American  people,  from  tradition  and  interest,  favor  bimetal- 
lism, and  the  Republican  party  demands  the  use  of  both  gold  and  sil- 
ver as  standard  money,  with  such  restrictions  and  under  such  pro- 

341 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

visions,  to  be  determined  by  legislation,  as  will  secure  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  parity  of  values  of  the  two  metals,  so  that  the  purchas- 
ing and  debt-paying  power  of  the  dollar,  whether  of  silver,  gold,  or 
paper,  shall  be  at  all  times  equal.  The  interests  of  the  producers 
of  the  country,  its  farmers  and  its  workingmen,  demand  that  every 
dollar,  paper  or  coin,  issued  by  the  Government,  shall  be  as  good  as 
any  other. 

We  commend  the  wise  and  patriotic  steps  already  taken  by  our 
Government  to  secure  an  international  conference  to  adopt  such 
measures  as  will  insure  a  parity  of  value  between  gold  and  silver 
for  use  as  money  throughout  the  world. 

We  demand  that  every  citizen  of  the  United  States  shall  be  al- 
lowed to  cast  one  free  and  unrestricted  ballot  in  all  public  elections, 
and  that  such  ballot  shall  be  counted  and  returned  as  cast ;  that  such 
laws  shall  be  enacted  and  enforced  as  will  secure  to  every  citizen, 
be  he  rich  or  poor,  native  or  foreign  born,  white  or  black,  this  sov- 
ereign right  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution.  The  free  and  honest 
popular  ballot,  the  just  and  equal  representation  of  all  the  people,  as 
well  as  their  just  and  equal  protection  under  the  laws,  are  the  foun- 
dation of  our  republican  institutions,  and  the  party  will  never  relax 
its  efforts  until  the  integrity  of  the  ballot  and  the  purity  of  elections 
shall  be  fully  guaranteed  and  protected  in  every  State. 

We  denounce  the  continued  inhuman  outrages  perpetrated  upon 
American  citizens  for  political  reasons  in  certain  Southern  States 
of  the  Union. 

We  favor  the  extension  of  our  foreign  commerce,  the  restoration 
of  our  mercantile  marine  by  home-built  ships,  and  the  creation  of  a 
navy  for  the  protection  of  our  national  interests  and  the  honor  of 
our  flag:  the  maintenance  of  the  most  friendly  relations  with  all 
foreign  powers,  entangling  alliances  with  none,  and  the  protection 
of  the  rights  of  our  fishermen. 

We  reaffirm  our  approval  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  and  believe  in 
the  achievement  of  the  manifest  destiny  of  the  Republic  in  its  broad- 
est sense. 

We  favor  the  enactment  of  more  stringent  laws  and  regulations 
for  the  restriction  of  criminal,  pauper,  and  contract  immigration. 

We  favor  efficient  legislation  by  Congress  to  protect  the  life  and 
limbs  of  employes  of  transportation  companies  engaged  in  carrying 
on  interstate  commerce,  and  recommend  legislation  by  the  respective 
States  that  will  protect  employes  engaged  in  State  commerce,  in 
mining,  and  manufacturing. 

The  Republican  party  has  always  been  the  champion  of  the 
oppressed,  and  recognizes  the  dignity  of  manhood,  irrespective  of 
faith,  color,  or  nationality;  it  sympathizes  with  the  cause  of  home 
rule  in  Ireland,  and  protests  against  the  persecution  of  the  Jews  in 
Russia. 

The  ultimate  reliance  of  free  popular  government  is  the  intelli- 
gence of  the  people  and  the  maintenance  of  freedom  among  men. 
We  therefore  declare  anew  our  devotion  to  liberty  of  thought  and 
conscience,  of  speech  and  press,  and  approve  all  agencies  and  instru- 
mentalities which  contribute  to  the  education  of  the  children  of  the 
land;  but,  while  insisting  upon  the  fullest  measure  of  religious  lib- 
erty, we  are  opposed  to  any  union  of  Church  and  State. 

We  reaffirm  our  opposition,  declared  in  the  Republican  platform 

342 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

of  1888,  to  all  combinations  of  capital,  organized  in  trusts  or  other- 
wise, to  control  arbitrarily  the  condition  of  trade  among  our  citizens. 
We  heartily  endorse  the  action  already  taken  upon  this  subject,  and 
ask  for  such  further  legislation  as  may  be  required  to  remedy  any 
defects  in  existing  laws,  and  to  render  their  enforcement  more 
complete  and  effective. 

We  approve  the  policy  of  extending  to  towns,  villages,  and  rural 
communities  the  advantages  of  the  free  delivery  service,  now  en- 
joyed by  the  larger  cities  of  the  country,  and  reaffirm  the  declara- 
tion contained  in  the  Republican  platform  of  1888,  pledging  the 
reduction  of  letter  postage  to  one  cent,  at  the  earliest  possible  mo- 
ment consistent  with  the  maintenance  of  the  Post-office  Department, 
and  the  highest  class  of  postal  service. 

We  commend  the  spirit  and  evidence  of  reform  in  the  civil  ser- 
vice, and  the  wise  and  consistent  enforcement  by  the  Republican 
party  of  the  laws  regulating  the  same. 

The  construction  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  is  of  the  highest  impor- 
tance to  the  American  people,  both  as  a  measure  of  national  defence 
and  to  build  up  and  maintain  American  commerce,  and  it  should  be 
controlled  by  the  United  States  Government. 

We  favor  the  admission  of  the  remaining  Territories  at  the  earliest 
practical  date,  having  due  regard  to  the  interests  of  the  people  of 
the  Territories  and  of  the  United  States.  All  the  Federal  officers 
appointed  for  the  Territories  should  be  selected  from  bona  fide 
residents  thereof,  and  the  right  of  self-government  should  be  ac- 
corded as  far  as  practicable. 

We  favor  cession,  subject  to  the  homestead  laws,  of  the  arid  pub- 
lic lands  to  the  States  and  Territories  in  which  they  lie,  under  such 
Congressional  restrictions  as  to  disposition,  reclamation,  and  occu- 
pancy by  settlers  as  will  secure  the  maximum  benefits  to  the  people. 

The  World's  Columbian  Exposition  is  a  great  national  under- 
taking, and  Congress  should  promptly  enact  such  reasonable  legis- 
lation in  aid  thereof  as  will  insure  a  discharge  of  the  expenses  and 
obligations  incident  thereto,  and  the  attainment  of  results  commen- 
surate with  the  dignity  and  progress  of  the  nation. 

In  temperance  we  sympathize  with  all  wise  and  legitimate  efforts 
to  lessen  and  prevent  the  evils  of  intemperance  and  promote  moral- 
ity. 

Ever  mindful  of  the  services  and  sacrifices  of  the  men  who  saved 
the  life  of  the  nation,  we  pledge  anew  to  the  veteran  soldiers  of  the 
Republic  a  watchful  care  and  recognition  of  their  just  claims  upon  a 
grateful  people. 

We  commend  the  able,  patriotic,  and  thoroughly  American  admin- 
istration of  President  Harrison.  Under  it  the  country  has  enjoyed 
remarkable  prosperity,  and  the  dignity  and  honor  of  the  nation,  at 
home  and  abroad,  have  been  faithfully  maintained,  and  we  offer  the 
record  of  pledges  kept  as  a  guarantee  of  faithful  performance  in  the 
future. 

The  Democratic  National  Convention  met  at  Chicago  on 
June  21,  and  Cleveland  was  nominated  for  a  third  time  after 
the  most  desperate  and  acrimonious  strife  I  have  ever  wit- 
nessed in  a  national  convention.  It  was  on  that  occasion 

343 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

that  Bourke  Cockran  made  a  speech  against  Cleveland  that 
gave  him  national  fame,  and  it  was  one  of  extraordinary 
ability  and  power.  The  convention  was  really  adverse  to 
Cleveland's  nomination.  Had  a  majority  of  the  delegates 
followed  their  own  personal  inclinations  he  would  have  been 
defeated,  and  he  was  nominated  solely  by  the  matchless  lead- 
ership of  William  C.  Whitney.  But  for  him  and  his  won- 
derful skill  and  energy,  the  convention  would  have  run  away 
from  Cleveland  at  the  outset.  Never  in  the  history  of  Amer- 
ican politics  was  there  such  an  achievement  as  the  nomina- 
tion of  Cleveland  over  the  solid  and  aggressively  hostile  vote 
of  his  own  State  of  New  York,  that  was  regarded  as  the 
pivotal  State  of  the  battle.  Tammany  had  always  opposed 
Cleveland  in  national  conventions,  but  never  before  had  con- 
trol of  the  delegation  against  him,  and  a  protest  was  pub- 
lished to  the  convention  signed  by  every  delegate  from  the 
State,  demanding  his  defeat. 

Cleveland  was  strong  with  the  people,  but  weak  with  the 
political  leaders,  and  it  was  only  Whitney's  masterful  man- 
agement of  the  convention  that  held  it  to  Cleveland.  The 
platform  was  made  by  the  enemies  of  Cleveland ;  the  nomi- 
nation for  Vice-President  was  made  over  his  friends,  and 
the  hostility  to  him  was  so  pronounced  that  the  opposing 
leaders  were  confident  of  his  defeat  at  the  polls.  The  con- 
vention sat  at  night  and  far  on  in  the  morning  hours,  when 
Cleveland  received  617  votes,  just  ten  more  than  were  neces- 
sary to  nominate  him.  Had  he  not  been  nominated  on  that 
ballot  his  defeat  would  have  been  certain. 

The  strength  of  Cleveland's  position  before  the  people  was 
pointedly  illustrated  by  his  nomination  in  a  convention  that 
was  not  specially  friendly,  but  that  was  forced  to  make  him 
the  candidate  because  of  the  overwhelming  popular  Demo- 
cratic sentiment  that  demanded  it.  A  year  or  so  before  the 
convention  met,  he  had  written  a  brief  and  positive  letter 
against  the  free  coinage  of  silver,  and  the  Democrats  of  the 
South  and  West  almost  with  one  voice  declared  against  him 
at  the  time,  but  when  the  Democratic  people  faced  the  con- 
ditions presented  by  the  battle  of  1892,  the  masses  came  to 
the  support  of  Cleveland  and  the  leaders  were  compelled  to 
follow.  The  cheap-money  craze  had  made  serious  inroads 
in  both  of  the  great  parties,  and  the  Republican  platform 
was  a  weak  and  awkward  straddle  of  the  whole  issue,  while 
the  Democratic  convention  had  an  honest  money  plank 

344 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


declaring  for  bimetallism  and  the  free  use  of  gold  and  silver 
with  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  dollar  to  be  maintained. 

The  Democratic  Convention  at  Chicago  was  presided  over 
by  William  C.  Owens,  of  Kentucky,  as  temporary  president, 
and  William  L.  Wilson,  of  West  Virginia,  as  permanent 
president.  After  a  protracted  and  acrimonious  discussion 
that  extended  the  session  of  the  convention  of  the  second  day 
until  long  after  midnight,  the  ballot  for  President  was  finally 
reached,  resulting  as  follows : 

Grover  Cleveland,  N.  Y.  ..617^  Wm.  R.  Morrison,  111 3 

David  B.  Hill,  N.  Y 114  James  E.  Campbell,  Ohio. ...  2 

Horace  Boies,  Iowa 103  Wm.  C.  Whitney,  N.  Y 1 

Arthur  P.  Gorman,  Md. . .  36}^  Wm.  E.  Russell,  Mass 1 

Adlai  E.  Stevenson,  111...  16%  Robert  E.  Pattison,  Penn. ...  1 

John  G.  Carlisle,  Ky 14 

There  was  an  animated  contest  for  Vice-President,  and 
the  special  friends  of  Cleveland  were  united  in  favor  of  Isaac 
P.  Gray,  of  Indiana,  but  they  were  defeated  in  their  choice, 
as  they  were  on  several  vital  points  of  the  platform.  Only 
one  ballot  was  had  for  Vice-President,  resulting  as  follows : 


Adlai  E.  Stevenson,  111 402 

Isaac  P.  Gray,  Ind 344 

Allen  B.  Morse,<Mich 86 

John  L.  Mitchell,  Wis 45 


Henry  Watterson,  Ky 26 

Bourke  Cockran,  N.  Y 5 

Lambert  Tree,  111 1 

Horace  Boies,  Iowa 1 


Stevenson  had  not  received  the  requisite  two-thirds,  but 
he  so  far  outstripped  the  candidate  of  the  Cleveland  leaders 
that  they  cordially  acquiesced,  and  the  nomination  of  Steven- 
son was  made  unanimous.  The  following  platform  was 
adopted  after  having  been  amended  in  open  convention, 
where  the  tariff  plank  of  the  platform  was  substituted  for 
the  more  temperate  plank  reported  by  the  committee,  by  a 
vote  of  564  to  342. 

SECTION  i.  The  representatives  of  the  Democratic  party  of  the 
United  States,  in  national  convention  assembled,  do  reaffirm  their 
allegiance  to  the  principles  of  the  party  as  formulated  by  Jeffer- 
son, and  exemplified  by  the  long  and  illustrious  line  of  his  suc- 
cessors in  Democratic  leadership,  from  Madison  to  Cleveland ;  we 
believe  the  public  welfare  demands  that  these  principles  be  applied 
to  the  conduct  of  the  Federal  Government  through  the  accession 
to  power  of  the  party  that  advocates  them;  and  we  solemnly  de- 
clare that  the  need  of  a  return  to  these  fundamental  principles  of 
a  free  popular  government,  based  on  home  rule  and  individual 

345 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

liberty,  was  never  more  urgent  than  now,  when  the  tendency  to 
centralize  all  power  at  the  Federal  capital  has  become  a  menace 
to  the  reserved  rights  of  the  States  that  strikes  at  the  very  roots  of 
our  Government  under  the  Constitution  as  framed  by  the  fathers 
of  the  Republic. 

SEC.  2.  We  warn  the  people  of  our  common  country,  jealous  for 
the  preservation  of  their  free  institutions,  that  the  policy  of  Federal 
control  of  elections  to  which  the  Republican  party  has  committed 
itself  is  fraught  with  the  greatest  dangers,  scarcely  less  momentous 
than  would  result  from  a  revolution  practically  establishing  mon- 
archy on  the  ruins  of  the  Republic.  It  strikes  at  the  North  as  well 
as  the  South,  and  injures  the  colored  citizen  even  more  than  the 
white.  It  means  a  horde  of  deputy  marshals  at  every  polling-place 
armed  with  Federal  power,  returning  boards  appointed  and  con- 
trolled by  Federal  authority,  the  outrage  of  the  electoral  rights  of 
the  people  in  the  several  States,  the  subjugation  of  the  colored  peo- 
ple to  the  control  of  the  party  in  power,  and  the  reviving  of  race 
antagonisms  now  happily  abated,  of  the  utmost  peril  to  the  safety 
and  happiness  of  all;  a  measure  deliberately  and  justly  described 
by  a  leading  Republican  Senator  as  "  the  most  infamous  bill  that 
ever  crossed  the  threshold  of  the  Senate."  Such  a  policy,  if  sanc- 
tioned by  law,  would  mean  the  dominance  of  a  self-perpetuating 
oligarchy  of  office-holders,  and  the  party  first  intrusted  with  its  ma- 
chinery could  be  dislodged  from  power  only  by  an  appeal  to  the  re- 
served right  of  the  people  to  resist  oppression,  which  is  inherent  in 
all  self-governing  communities.  Two  years  ago,  this  revolutionary 
policy  was  emphatically  condemned  by  the  people  at  the  polls ;  but 
in  contempt  of  that  verdict,  the  Republican  party  has  defiantly  de- 
clared in  its  latest  authoritative  utterance  that  its  success  in  the 
coming  elections  will  mean  the  enactment  of  the  Force  bill,  and  the 
usurpation  of  despotic  control  over  elections  in  all  the  States.  Be- 
lieving that  the  preservation  of  republican  government  in  the  United 
States  is  dependent  upon  the  defeat  of  this  policy  of  legalized  force 
and  fraud,  we  invite  the  support  of  all  citizens  who  desire  to  see 
the  Constitution  maintained  in  its  integrity,  with  the  laws  pursuant 
thereto,  which  have  given  our  country  a  hundred  years  of  unex- 
ampled prosperity;  and  we  pledge  the  Democratic  party,  if  it  be 
intrusted  with  power,  not  only  to  the  defeat  of  the  Force  bill,  but 
also  to  relentless  opposition  to  the  Republican  policy  of  profligate 
expenditure,  which  in  the  short  space  of  two  years  has  squandered 
an  enormous  surplus,  and  emptied  an  overflowing  treasury,  after 
piling  new  burdens  of  taxation  upon  the  already  overtaxed  labor 
of  the  country. 

SEC.  3.  We  denounce  the  Republican  protection  as  a  fraud,  a 
robbery  of  the  great  majority  of  the  American  people  for  the  benefit 
of  the  few.  We  declare  it  to  be  a  fundamental  principle  of  the 
Democratic  party  that  the  Federal  Government  has  no  constitu- 
tional power  to  impose  and  collect  tariff  duties,  except  for  the  pur- 
poses of  revenue  only,  and  we  demand  that  the  collection  of  such 
taxes  shall  be  limited  to  the  necessities  of  the  Government  when 
honestly  and  economically  administered. 

We  denounce  the  McKinley  Tariff  law  enacted  by  the  Fifty-first 
Congress  as  the  culminating  atrocity  of  class  legislation ;  we  endorse 
the  efforts  made  by  the  Democrats  of  the  present  Congress  to  modify 

346 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

its  most  oppressive  features  in  the  direction  of  free  raw  materials 
and  cheaper  manufactured  goods  that  enter  into  general  consump- 
tion, and  we  promise  its  repeal  as  one  of  the  beneficent  results  that 
will  follow  the  action  of  the  people  in  intrusting  power  to  the 
Democratic  party.  Since  the  McKinley  Tariff  went  into  operation, 
there  have  been  ten  reductions  of  the  wages  of  laboring  men  to 
one  increase.  We  deny  that  there  has  been  any  increase  of  pros- 
perity to  the  country  since  that  tariff  went  into  operation,  and  we 
point  to  the  dulness  and  distress,  the  wage  reductions  and  strikes 
in  the  iron  trade,  as  the  best  possible  evidence  that  no  such  prosperity 
has  resulted  from  the  McKinley  act. 

\Ve  call  the  attention  of  thoughtful  Americans  to  the  fact  that, 
after  thirty  years  of  restrictive  taxes  against  the  importation  of 
foreign  wealth  in  exchange  for  our  agricultural  surplus,  the  homes 
and  farms  of  the  country  have  become  burdened  with  a  real  estate 
mortgage  debt  of  over  $2,500,000,000,  exclusive  of  all  other  forms 
of  indebtedness;  that  in  one  of  the  chief  agricultural  States  of  the 
West  there  appears  a  real  estate  mortgage  debt  averaging  $165 
per  capita  of  the  total  population,  and  that  similar  conditions  and 
tendencies  are  shown  to  exist  in  the  other  agricultural  exporting 
States.  We  denounce  a  policy  which  fosters  no  industry  so  much 
as  it  does  that  of  the  sheriff. 

SEC.  4.  Trade  interchange  on  the  basis  of  reciprocal  advantage  to 
the  countries  participating  is  a  time-honored  doctrine  of  the  Demo- 
cratic faith;  but  we  denounce  the  sham  reciprocity  which  juggles 
with  the  people's  desire  for  enlarged  foreign  markets  and  freer 
exchanges  by  pretending  to  establish  closer  trade  relations  for  a 
country  whose  articles  of  export  are  almost  exclusively  agricul- 
tural products  with  other  countries  that  are  also  agricultural,  while 
erecting  a  custom-house  barrier  of  prohibitive  tariff  taxes  against 
the  richest  countries  of  the  world,  that  stand  ready  to  take  our 
entire  surplus  of  products,  and  to  exchange  therefor  commodities 
which  are  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life  among  our  own  people. 

SEC.  5.  We  recognize,  in  the  trusts  and  combinations  which  are 
designed  to  enable  capital  to  secure  more  than  its  just  share  of 
the  joint  product  of  capital  and  labor,  a  natural  consequence  of  the 
prohibitive  taxes  which  prevent  the  free  competition  which  is  the 
life  of  honest  trade,  but  we  believe  their  worst  evils  can  be  abated 
by  law  ;  and  we  demand  the  rigid  enforcement  of  the  laws  made 
to  prevent  and  control  them,  together  with  such  further  legisla- 
tion in  restraint  of  their  abuses  as  experience  may  show  to  be 
necessary. 

SEC.  6.  The  Republican  party,  while  professing  a  policy  of  re- 
serving the  public  land  for  small  holdings  by  actual  settlers,  has 
given  away  the  people's  heritage,  till  now  a  few  railroad  and  non- 
resident aliens,  individual  and  corporate,  possess  a  larger  area  than 
that  of  all  our  farms  between  the  two  seas.  The  last  Democratic 
administration  reversed  the  improvident  and  unwise  policy  of  the 
Republican  party  touching  the  public  domain,  and  reclaimed  from 
corporations  and  syndicates,  alien  and  domestic,  and  restored  to 
the  people,  nearly  100,000,000  acres  of  valuable  land,  to  be  sacredly 
held  as  homesteads  for  our  citizens,  and  we  pledge  ourselves  to 
continue  this  policy  until  every  acre  of  land  so  unlawfully  held  shall 
be  reclaimed  and  restored  to  the  people. 

347 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

SEC.  7.  We  denounce  the  Republican  legislation  known  as  the 
Sherman  act  of  1890  as  a  cowardly  makeshift,  fraught  with  possi- 
bilities of  danger  in  the  future  which  should  make  all  of  its  sup- 
porters, as  well  as  its  author,  anxious  for  its  speedy  repeal.  We 
hold  to  the  use  of  both  gold  and  silver  as  the  standard  money  of 
the  country,  and  to  the  coinage  of  both  gold  and  silver  without 
discrimination  against  either  metal  or  charge  for  mintage ;  but 
the  dollar  unit  of  coinage  of  both  metals  must  be  of  equal  intrinsic 
and  exchangeable  value,  or  be  adjusted  through  international  agree- 
ment, or  by  such  safeguards  of  legislation  as  shall  insure  the  main- 
tenance of  the  parity  of  the  two  metals,  and  the  equal  power  of 
every  dollar  at  all  times  in  the  markets  and  in  the  payment  of  debts ; 
and  we  demand  that  all  paper  currency  shall  be  kept  at  par  with  and 
redeemable  in  such  coin.  We  insist  upon  this  policy  as  especially 
necessary  for  the  protection  of  the  farmers  and  laboring  classes,  the 
first  and  most  defenceless  victims  of  unstable  money  and  a  fluctuating 
currency. 

SEC.  8.  We  recommend  that  the  prohibitory  ten  per  cent,  tax  on 
State  bank  issues  be  repealed. 

SEC.  9.  Public  office  is  a  public  trust.  We  reaffirm  the  declara- 
tion of  the  Democratic  National  Convention  of  1876  for  the  reform 
of  the  civil  service,  and  we  call  for  the  honest  enforcement  of  all 
laws  regulating  the  same.  The  nomination  of  a  President,  as  in 
the  recent  Republican  convention,  by  delegations  composed  largely 
of  his  appointees,  holding  office  at  his  pleasure,  is  a  scandalous  satire 
upon  free  popular  institutions,  and  a  startling  illustration  of  the 
methods  by  which  a  President  may  gratify  his  ambition.  We  de- 
nounce a  policy  under  which  Federal  office-holders  usurp  control  of 
party  conventions  in  the  States,  and  we  pledge  the  Democratic  party 
to  the  reform  of  these  and  all  other  abuses  which  threaten  individual 
liberty  and  local  self-government. 

SEC.  10.  The  Democratic  party  is  the  only  party  that  has  ever 
given  the  country  a  foreign  policy  consistent  and  vigorous,  com- 
pelling respect  abroad  and  inspiring  confidence  at  home.  While 
avoiding  entangling  alliances,  it  has  aimed  to  cultivate  friendly 
relations  with  other  nations,  and  especially  with  our  American 
neighbors  on  the  American  continent  whose  destiny  is  closely 
linked  with  our  own,  and  we  view  with  alarm  the  tendency  to  a 
policy  of  irritation  and  bluster  which  is  liable  at  any  time  to  con- 
front us  with  the  alternative  of  humiliation  or  war.  We  favor  the 
maintenance  of  a  navy  strong  enough  for  all  purposes  of  national 
defence,  and  to  properly  maintain  the  honor  and  dignity  of  the 
country  abroad. 

SEC.  ii.  This  country  has  always  been  the  refuge  of  the  op- 
pressed from  every  land — exiles  for  conscience'  sake;  and  in  the 
spirit  of  the  founders  of  our  Government,  we  condemn  the  oppres- 
sion practised  by  the  Russian  Government  upon  its  Lutheran  and 
Jewish  subjects,  and  we  call  upon  our  National  Government,  in  the 
interest  of  justice  and  humanity,  by  all  just  and  proper  means,  to 
use  its  prompt  and  best  efforts  to  bring  about  a  cessation  of  these 
cruel  persecutions  in  the  dominions  of  the  Czar,  and  to  secure  to 
the  oppressed  equal  rights.  We  tender  our  profound  and  earnest 
sympathy  to  those  lovers  of  freedom  who  are  struggling  for  home 
rule  and  the  great  cause  of  local  self-government  in  Ireland. 

348 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

SEC.  12.  We  heartily  approve  all  legitimate  efforts  to  prevent  the 
United  States  from  being  used  as  the  dumping-ground  for  the  known 
criminals  and  professional  paupers  of  Europe ;  and  we  demand  the 
rigid  enforcement  of  the  laws  against  Chinese  immigration,  or  the 
importation  of  foreign  workmen  under  contract,  to  degrade  Ameri- 
can labor  and  lessen  its  wages ;  but  we  condemn  and  denounce  any 
and  all  attempts  to  restrict  the  immigration  of  the  industrious  and 
worthy  of  foreign  lands. 

SEC.  13.  This  convention  hereby  renews  the  expression  of  ap- 
preciation of  the  patriotism  of  the  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  Union 
in  the  war  for  its  preservation,  and  we  favor  just  and  liberal  pen- 
sions for  all  disabled  Union  soldiers,  their  widows  and  dependents; 
but  we  demand  that  the  work  of  the  Pension  Office  shall  be  done 
industriously,  impartially,  and  honestly.  We  denounce  the  present 
administration  of  that  office  as  incompetent,  corrupt,  disgraceful, 
and  dishonest. 

SEC.  14.  The  Federal  Government  should  care  for  and  improve 
the  Mississippi  River  and  other  great  waterways  of  the  Republic, 
so  as  to  secure  for  the  interior  States  easy  and  cheap  transporta- 
tion to  the  tidewater.  When  any  waterway  of  the  Republic  is  of 
sufficient  importance  to  demand  the  aid  of  the  Government,  such 
aid  should  be  extended  for  a  denfinite  plan  of  continuous  work  until 
permanent  improvement  is  secured. 

SEC.  15.  For  purposes  of  national  defence  and  the  promotion  of 
commerce  between  the  States,  we  recognize  the  early  construction 
of  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  and  its  protection  against  foreign  control, 
as  of  great  importance  to  the  United  States. 

SEC.  16.  Recognizing  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition  as  a 
national  undertaking  of  vast  importance,  in  which  the  General  Gov- 
ernment has  invited  the  co-operation  of  all  the  powers  of  the  world, 
and  appreciating  the  acceptance  by  many  of  such  powers  of  the 
invitation  extended,  and  the  broadest  liberal  efforts  being  made  by 
them  to  contribute  to  the  grandeur  of  the  undertaking,  we  are  of 
the  opinion  that  Congress  should  make  such  necessary  financial  pro- 
vision as  shall  be  requisite  to  the  maintenance  of  the  national  honor 
and  public  faith. 

SEC.  17.  Popular  education  being  the  only  safe  basis  of  popular 
suffrage,  we  recommend  to  the  several  States  most  liberal  appro- 
priations for  the  public  schools.  Free  common  schools  are  the 
nursery  of  good  government,  and  they  have  always  received  the 
fostering  care  of  the  Democratic  party,  which  favors  every  means 
of  increasing  intelligence.  Freedom  of  education,  being  an  essen- 
tial of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  as  well  as  a  necessity  for  the  de- 
velopment of  intelligence,  must  not  be  interfered  with  under  any 
pretext  whatever.  We  are  opposed  to  State  interference  with  pa- 
rental rights  and  rights  of  conscience  in  the  education  of  children, 
as  an  infringement  of  the  fundamental  Democratic  doctrine  that 
the  largest  individual  liberty  consistent  with  the  rights  of  others 
insures  the  highest  type  of  American  citizenship  and  the  best 
government. 

SEC.  18.  We  approve  the  action  of  the  present  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives in  passing  bills  for  the  admission  into  the  Union  as  States 
of  the  Territories  of  New  Mexico  and  Arizona,  and  we  favor  the 
early  admission  of  all  the  Territories  having  necessary  population 

349 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

and  resource*  to  admit  them  to  Statehood;  and,  while  they  remain 
Territories,  we  hold  that  the  officials  appointed  to  administer  the 
government  of  any  Territory,  together  with  the  Districts  of  Columbia 
and  Alaska,  should  be  bond  fide  residents  of  the  Territory  or  dis- 
trict in  which  their  duties  are  to  be  performed.  The  Democratic 
party  believes  in  home  rule,  and  the  control  of  their  own  affairs  by 
the  people  of  the  vicinage. 

SEC.  19.  We  favor  legislation  by  Congress  and  State  Legislatures 
to  protect  the  lives  and  limbs  of  railway  employees,  and  those  of 
other  hazardous  transportation  companies,  and  denounce  the  inac- 
tivity of  the  Republican  party,  and  particularly  the  Republican 
Senate,  for  causing  the  defeat  of  measures  beneficial  and  protective 
to  this  class  of  wageworkers. 

SEC.  20.  We  are  in  favor  of  the  enactment  by  the  States  of  laws 
for  abolishing  the  notorious  sweating  system,  for  abolishing  con- 
tract convict  labor,  and  for  prohibiting  the  employment  in  factories 
of  children  under  fifteen  years  of  age. 

SEC.  21.  We  are  opposed  to  all  sumptuary  laws  as  an  interfer- 
ence with  the  individual  rights  of  the  citizen. 

SEC.  22.  Upon  this  statement  of  principles  and  policies,  the 
Democratic  party  asks  the  intelligent  judgment  of  the  American 
people.  It  asks  a  change  of  administration  and  a  change  of  party 
in  order  that  there  may  be  a  change  of  system  and  a  change  of 
methods,  thus  assuring  the  maintenance  unimpaired  of  institutions 
under  which  the  Republic  has  grown  great  and  powerful. 

The  platform,  as  originally  reported,  contained,  instead  of 
the  first  paragraph  of  Section  3,  the  following : 

We  reiterate  the  oft-repeated  doctrines  of  the  Democratic  party 
that  the  necessity  of  the  Government  is  the  only  justification  for 
taxation,  and  whenever  a  tax  is  unnecessary  it  is  unjustifiable;  that 
when  custom-house  taxation  is  levied  upon  articles  of  any  kind 
produced  in  this  country,  the  difference  between  the  cost  of  labor 
here  and  labor  abroad,  when  such  a  difference  exists,  fully 
measures  any  possible  benefits  to  labor;  and  the  enormous  addi- 
tional impositions  of  the  existing  tariff  fall  with  crushing  force 
upon  our  farmers  and  workingmen,  and,  for  the  mere  advantage 
of  the  few  whom  it  enriches,  exact  from  labor  a  grossly  unjust 
share  of  the  expenses  of  the  Government;  and  we  demand  such  a 
revision  of  the  tariff  laws  as  will  remove  their  iniquitous  inequali- 
ties, lighten  their  oppressions,  and  put  them  on  a  constitutional  and 
equitable  basis.  But  in  making  reduction  in  taxes,  it  is  not  proposed 
to  injure  any  domestic  industries,  but  rather  to  promote  their  healthy 
growth.  From  the  foundation  of  this  Government,  taxes  collected 
at  the  custom-house  have  been  the  chief  source  of  Federal  revenue. 
Such  they  must  continue  to  be.  Moreover,  many  industries  have 
come  to  rely  upon  legislation  for  successful  continuance,  so  that  any 
change  of  law  must  be  at  every  step  regardful  of  the  labor  and 
capital  thus  involved.  The  process  of  reform  must  be  subject  in 
the  execution  to  this  plain  dictate  of  justice. 

The  National  Prohibition  Convention  was  held  at  Cincin- 
nati on  the  29th  of  June,  with  John  P.  St.  John,  of  Kansas, 

350 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

as  temporary  chairman,  and  Eli  Ritter,  of  Indiana,  as  per- 
manent chairman.  The  convention  remained  in  session  two 
days.  The  following1  was  the  only  ballot  for  President : 


John  Bidwell,  Cal 590 

Gideon  T.  Stewart,  Ohio...  179 


W.  J.  Demorest,  N.  Y 139 

Scattering 3 


A  single  ballot  was  had  for  Vice-President,  as  follows : 

J.  P.  Cranfill,  Texas 417     II     W.  W.  Satterlee,  Minn. ...     26 

Joshua  Levering,  Md 351     ||     T.  R.  Carskoden,  W.  Va  . .     19 

The  nominations  of  Bidwell  and  Cranfill  were  made  unani- 
mous. The  following  platform  was  adopted : 

The  Prohibition  party,  in  national  convention  assembled,  ac- 
knowledging Almighty  God  as  the  source  of  all  true  government, 
and  His  law  as  the  standard  to  which  all  human  enactments  must 
conform  to  secure  the  blessings  of  peace  and  prosperity,  presents 
the  following  declaration  of  principles : 

1.  The  liquor  traffic  is  a  foe  to  civilization,  the  arch  enemy  of 
popular  government,  and  a  public  nuisance.     It  is  the  citadel  of  the 
forces   that   corrupt   politics,    promote  poverty   and   crime,    degrade 
the  nation's  home  life,  thwart  the  will  of  the  people,  and   deliver 
our  country  into  the  hands  of  rapacious  class  interests.     All  laws 
that,  under  the  guise  of  regulation,  legalize  and  protect  this  traffic, 
or  make  the  Government  share  in  its  ill-gotten  gains,  are  "  vicious 
in  principle  and  powerless  as  a  remedy." 

We  declare  anew  for  the  entire  suppression  of  the  manufacture, 
sale,  importation,  exportation,  and  transportation  of  alcoholic  liq- 
uors as  a  beverage,  by  Federal  and  State  legislation;  and  the  full 
powers  of  the  Government  should  be  exerted  to  secure  this  result. 
Any  party  that  fails  to  recognize  the  dominant  nature  of  this  issue 
in  American  politics  is  undeserving  of  the  support  of  the  people. 

2.  No  citizen  should  be  denied  the  right  to  vote  on  account  of 
sex,   and   equal   labor  should   receive  equal   wages,   without  regard 
to  sex. 

3.  The  money  of  the  country  should  be  gold,   silver,  and  paper, 
and  be  issued  by  the  General   Government  only,   and   in   sufficient 
quantities  to  meet  the  demands  of  business  and  give  full  opportu- 
nity for  the  employment  of  labor.     To  this  end  an  increase  in  the 
volume  of  money   is  demanded,  and  no  individual   or  corporation 
should  be  allowed  to  make  any  profit  through  its  issue.     It  should 
be  made  a  legal  tender  for  the  payment  of  all  debts,  public  and 
private.     Its  volume  should  be  fixed  at  a  definite  sum  per  capita, 
and  made  to  increase  with  our  increase  in  population. 

4-  We  favor  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver  and  gold. 
(Rejected  by  the  convention.) 

5.  Tariffs  should  be  levied  only  as  a  defence  against  foreign  gov- 
ernments which  put  tariffs  upon  or  bar  our  products  from  their 


24 


351 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

markets,  revenue  being  incidental.  The  residue  of  means  necessary 
to  an  economical  administration  of  the  Government  should  be  raised 
by  levying  a  burden  on  what  the  people  possess  instead  of  upon  what 
we  consume. 

6.  Railroad,  telegraph,   and  other  public  corporations   should  be 
controlled  by  the  Government  in  the  interest  of  the  people,  and  no 
higher  charges  allowed  than  necessary  to  give  fair  interest  on  the 
capital  actually  invested. 

7.  Foreign  immigration  has  become  a  burden  upon  industry,  one 
of  the  factors  in  depressing  wages  and  causing  discontent;  there- 
fore our  immigration  laws  should  be  revised  and  strictly  enforced. 
The  time  of  residence  for  naturalization  should  be  extended,   and 
no  naturalized  person  should  be  allowed  to  vote  until  one  year  after 
he  becomes  a  citizen. 

8.  Non-resident  aliens  should  not  be  allowed  to  acquire  land  in 
this  country,   and  we  favor  the  limitation  of  individual   and   cor- 
porate ownership  of  land.    All  unearned  grants  of  lands  to  railroad 
companies  or  other  corporations  should  be  reclaimed. 

9.  Years  of  inaction  and  treachery  on  the  part  of  the  Republican 
and  Democratic  parties  have  resulted  in  the  present  reign  of  mob 
law,  and  we  demand  that  every  citizen  be  protected  in  the  right  of 
trial  by  constitutional  tribunals. 

10.  All  men  should  be  protected  by  law  in  their  right  to  one  day's 
rest  in  seven. 

11.  Arbitration  is  the  wisest  and  most  economical  and  humane 
method  of  settling  national  differences. 

12.  Speculations  in  margins,  the  cornering  of  grain,  money,  and 
products,  and  the  formation  of  pools,  trusts,  and  combinations  for 
the  arbitrary  advancement  of  prices,  should  be  suppressed. 

13.  We  pledge  that  the  Prohibition  party  if  elected  to  power  will 
ever  grant  just  pensions  to  disabled  veterans  of  the  Union  army 
and  navy,  their  widows  and  orphans. 

14.  We  stand  unequivocally  for  the  American  public  school,  and 
opposed  to  any  appropriation  of  public  moneys  for  sectarian  schools. 
We  declare  that  only  by  united  support  of  such  common  schools, 
taught  in  the  English  language,  can  we  hope  to  become  and  remain 
an  homogeneous  and  harmonious  people. 

15.  We  arraign  the  Republican  and  Democratic  parties  as  false 
to  the  standards  reared  by  their  founders;  as  faithless  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  illustrious  leaders  of  the  past  to  whom  they  do  homage 
with  the  lips ;  as  recreant  to  the  "  higher  law,"  which  is  as  inflexible 
in  political  affairs  as  in  personal  life;  and  as  no  longer  embodying 
the  aspirations  of  the  American  people,  or  inviting  the  confidence  of 
enlightened  progressive  patriotism.     Their  protests  against  the  ad- 
mission of  "  moral  issues"  into  politics  is  a  confession  of  their  own 
moral  degeneracy.     The  declaration  of  an  eminent  authority,   that 
municipal    misrule    is    "  the   one    conspicuous    failure    of    American 
politics,"  follows  as  a  natural  consequence  of  such  degeneracy,  and 
is  true   alike  of  cities  under  Republican   and   Democratic   control. 
Each  accuses  the  other  of  extravagance  in  Congressional  appropria- 
tions, and  both  are  alike  guilty;  each  protests  when  out  of  power 
against  the  infraction  of  the  civil  service  laws,  and  each  when  in 
power  violates  those  laws  in  letter  and  spirit ;  each  professes  fealty 
to  the  interests  of  the  toiling  masses,  but  both  covertly  truckle  to 

352 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

the  money  power  in  their  administration  of  public  affairs.  Even  the 
tariff  issue,  as  represented  in  the  Democratic  Mills  bill  and  the 
Republican  McKinley  bill,  is  no  longer  treated  by  them  as  an  issue 
upon  great  and  divergent  principles  of  government,  but  is  a  mere 
catering  to  different  sectional  and  class  interests.  The  attempt  in 
many  States  to  wrest  the  Australian  ballot  system  from  its  true 
purpose,  and  to  so  deform  it  as  to  render  it  extremely  difficult  for 
new  parties  to  exercise  the  rights  of  suffrage,  is  an  outrage  upon 
popular  government.  The  competition  of  both  the  parties  for  the 
vote  of  the  slums,  and  their  assiduous  courting  of  the  liquor  power 
and  subserviency  to  the  money  power,  have  resulted  in  placing  those 
powers  in  the  position  of  practical  arbiters  of  the  destinies  of  the 
nation.  We  renew  our  protest  against  these  perilous  tendencies,  and 
invite  all  citizens  to  join  us  in  the  upbuilding  of  a  party  that,  as 
shown  in  five  national  campaigns,  prefers  temporary  defeat  to  an 
abandonment  of  the  claims  of  justice,  sobriety,  personal  rights,  and 
the  protection  of  American  homes. 

The  only  opposition  being  to  the  fourth  resolution  declar- 
ing for  the  free  coinage  of  silver,  that  was  defeated  by  a  vote 
of  596  to  335. 

The  campaign  of  1892  gave  birth  to  the  People's  party, 
that  embraced  the  old  Greenbackers  and  most  of  the  other 
odds  and  ends  of  former  side  political  organizations,  and 
it  proved  to  be  an  important  factor  in  the  struggle.  It  held 
its  national  convention  at  Omaha  on  the  2d  of  July,  with 
C.  H.  Ellington,  of  Georgia,  as  temporary  chairman  and 
H.  L.  Loucks,  of  South  Dakota,  as  permanent  president. 
The  1st  and  only  ballot  for  President  resulted  as  follows: 

James  B.  Weaver,  Iowa 995     II     Scattering 3 

James  H.  Kyle,  S.  D 265    || 

Only  one  ballot  was  had  for  Vice-President,  as  follows: 
James  G.  Field,  Virginia. .  .733  II  Benj.  S.  Terrell,  Texas 554 

The  nominations  of  Weaver  and  Field  were  made  unani- 
mous and  the  following  platform  adopted : 

Assembled  upon  the  n6th  anniversary  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, the  People's  party  of  America,  in  their  first  national  con- 
vention, invoking  upon  their  action  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God, 
puts  forth,  in  the  name  and  on  behalf  of  the  people  of  this  country, 
the  following  preamble  and  declaration  of  principles: 

The  conditions  which  surround  us  best  justify  our  co-operation; 
we  meet  in  the  midst  of  a  nation  brought  to  the  verge  of  moral, 
political,  and  material  ruin.  Corruption  dominates  the  ballot-box, 
the  Legislature,  the  Congress,  and  touches  even  the  ermine  of  the 

353 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

bench.  The  people  are  demoralized;  most  of  the  States  have  been 
compelled  to  isolate  the  voters  at  the  polling-places  to  prevent  uni- 
versal intimidation  or  bribery.  The  newspapers  are  largely  subsi- 
dized or  muzzled;  public  opinion  silenced;  business  prostrated;  our 
homes  covered  with  mortgages ;  labor  impoverished ;  and  the  land 
concentrating  in  the  hands  of  the  capitalists.  The  urban  workmen 
are  denied  the  right  of  organization  for  self-protection ;  imported 
pauperized  labor  beats  down  their  wages ;  a  hireling  standing  army, 
unrecognized  by  our  laws,  is  established  to  shoot  them  down,  and 
they  are  rapidly  degenerating  into  European  conditions.  The  fruits 
of  the  toil  of  millions  are  boldly  stolen  to  build  up  colossal  fortunes 
for  a  few,  unprecedented  in  the  history  of  mankind ;  and  the  pos- 
sessors of  these,  in  turn,  despise  the  Republic  and  endanger  liberty. 
From  the  same  prolific  womb  of  governmental  injustice  we  breed 
the  two  great  classes  of  tramps  and  millionaires. 

The  national  power  to  create  money  is  appropriated  to  enrich  bond- 
holders; a  vast  public  debt,  payable  in  legal  tender  currency,  has 
been  funded  into  gold-bearing  bonds,  thereby  adding  millions  to  the 
burdens  of  the  people.  Silver,  which  has  been  accepted  as  coin 
since  the  dawn  of  history,  has  been  demonetized  to  add  to  the  pur- 
chasing power  of  gold  by  decreasing  the  value  of  all  forms  of  prop- 
erty as  well  as  human  labor ;  and  the  supply  of  currency  is  purposely 
abridged  to  fatten  usurers,  bankrupt  enterprise,  and  enslave  industry. 
A  vast  conspiracy  against  mankind  has  been  organized  on  two  con- 
tinents, and  it  is  rapidly  taking  possession  of  the  world.  If  not  met 
and  overthrown  at  once,  it  forebodes  terrible  social  convulsions,  the 
destruction  of  civilization,  or  the  establishment  of  an  absolute  des- 
potism. 

We  have  witnessed  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  strug- 
gles of  the  two  great  political  parties  for  power  and  plunder,  while 
grievous  wrongs  have  been  inflicted  upon  the  suffering  people.  We 
charge  that  the  controlling  influences  dominating  both  these  parties 
have  permitted  the  existing  dreadful  condition  to  develop  without 
serious  effort  to  prevent  or  restrain  them.  Neither  do  they  now 
promise  us  any  substantial  reform.  They  have  agreed  together  to 
ignore  in  the  campaign  every  issue  but  one.  They  propose  to  drown 
the  outcries  of  a  plundered  people  with  the  uproar  of  a  sham  battle 
over  the  tariff,  so  that  capitalists,  corporations,  national  banks,  rings, 
trusts,  watered  stock,  the  demonetization  of  silver,  and  the  oppres- 
sions of  the  usurers  may  all  be  lost  sight  of.  They  propose  to  sac- 
rifice our  homes,  lives,  and  children  on  the  altar  of  mammon ;  to 
destroy  the  multitude  in  order  to  secure  corruption  funds  from  the 
millionaires. 

Assembled  on  the  anniversary  of  the  birthday  of  the  nation,  and 
filled  with  the  spirit  of  the  grand  general  chief  who  established  our 
independence,  we  seek  to  restore  the  government  of  the  Republic 
to  the  hands  of  "  the  plain  people/'  with  whose  class  it  originated. 
We  assert  our  purposes  to  be  identical  with  the  purposes  of  the  na- 
tional Constitution,  "  to  form  a  more  perfect  union  and  establish 
justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for  the  common  defence, 
promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  for 
ourselves  and  our  posterity."  We  declare  that  this  Republic  can  only 
endure  as  a  free  Government  while  built  upon  the  love  of  the  whole 
people  for  each  other  and  for  the  nation;  that  it  cannot  be  pinned 

354 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

together  by  bayonets ;  that  the  civil  war  is  over,  and  that  every  pas- 
sion and  resentment  which  grew  out  of  it  must  die  with  it ;  and  that 
we  must  be  in  fact,  as  we  are  in  name,  one  united  brotherhood  of 
freemen. 

Our  country  finds  itself  confronted  by  conditions  for  which  there 
is  no  precedent  in  the  history  of  the  world :  our  annual  agricultural 
productions  amount  to  billions  of  dollars  in  value,  which  must, 
within  a  few  weeks  or  months,  be  exchanged  for  billions  of  dollars 
of  commodities  consumed  in  their  production ;  the  existing  currency 
supply  is  wholly  inadequate  to  make  this  exchange;  the  results  are 
falling  prices,  the  formation  of  combines  and  rings,  the  impoverish- 
ment of  the  producing  class.  We  pledge  ourselves,  if  given  power, 
we  will  labor  to  correct  these  evils  by  wise  and  reasonable  legisla- 
tion, in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  our  platform.  We  believe  that 
the  powers  of  Government — in  other  words,  of  the  people — should  be 
expanded  (as  in  the  case  of  the  postal  service)  as  rapidly  and  as 
far  as  the  good  sense  of  an  intelligent  people  and  the  teachings  of 
experience  shall  justify,  to  the  end  that  oppression,  injustice,  and 
poverty  shall  eventually  cease  in  the  land. 

While  our  sympathies  as  a  party  of  reform  are  naturally  upon  the 
side  of  every  proposition  which  will  tend  to  make  men  intelligent, 
virtuous,  and  temperate,  we  nevertheless  regard  these  questions — 
important  as  they  are — as  secondary  to  the  great  issues  now  pressing 
for  solution,  and  upon  which  not  only  our  individual  prosperity  but 
the  very  existence  of  free  institutions  depends ;  and  we  ask  all  men 
to  first  help  us  to  determine  whether  we  are  to  have  a  Republic 
to  administer  before  we  differ  as  to  the  conditions  upon  which  it  is 
to  be  administered;  believing  that  the  forces  of  reform  this  day 
organized  will  never  cease  to  move  forward  until  every  wrong  is 
remedied,  and  equal  rights  and  equal  privileges  securely  established 
for  all  the  men  and  women  of  this  country. 

We  declare,  therefore — 

First.  That  the  union  of  the  labor  forces  of  the  United  States  this 
day  consummated  shall  be  permanent  and  perpetual ;  may  its  spirit 
enter  all  hearts  for  the  salvation  of  the  Republic  and  the  uplifting 
of  mankind  ! 

Second.  Wealth  belongs  to  him  who  creates  it,  and  every  dollar 
taken  from  industry  without  an  equivalent  is  robbery.  "  If  any  will 
not  work,  neither  shall  he  eat."  The  interests  of  rural  and  civic 
labor  are  the  same ;  their  enemies  are  identical. 

Third.  We  believe  that  the  time  has  come  when  the  railroad  cor- 
porations will  either  own  the  people  or  the  people  must  own  the  rail- 
roads ;  and,  should  the  Government  enter  upon  the  work  of  owning 
and  managing  all  railroads,  we  should  favor  an  amendment  to  the 
Constitution  by  which  all  persons  engaged  in  the  Government  ser- 
vice shall  be  placed  under  a  civil  service  regulation  of  the  most  rigid 
character,  so  as  to  prevent  the  increase  of  the  power  of  the  national 
administration  by  the  use  of  such  additional  Government  em- 
ployes. 

We  demand — 

First,  A  national  currency,  safe,  sound,  and  flexible,  issued  by  the 
General  Government  only,  a  full  legal  tender  for  all  debts,  public 
and  private,  and  that,  without  the  use  of  banking  corporations,  a 
just,  equitable,  and  efficient  means  of  distribution  direct  to  the  peo- 

355 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

pie,  at  a  tax  not  to  exceed  two  per  cent,  per  annum,  to  be  provided 
as  set  forth  in  the  sub-treasury  plan  of  the  Farmers'  Alliance,  or  a 
better  system;  also,  by  payments  in  discharge  of  its  obligations  for 
public  improvements. 

(a)  We  demand  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver  and  gold  at 
the  present  legal  ratio  of  sixteen  to  one. 

(ib)  We  demand  that  the  amount  of  circulating  medium  be  speed- 
ily increased  to  not  less  than  fifty  dollars  per  capita. 

(c)  We  demand  a  graduated  income  tax. 

(d)  We  believe  that  the  money  of  the  country  should  be  kept  as 
much  as  possible  in  the  hands  of  the  people,  and  hence  we  demand 
that  all  State  and  national  revenues  shall  be  limited  to  the  necessary 
expenses  of  the   Government   economically   and   honestly   adminis- 
tered. 

(e)  We  demand  that  postal  savings  banks  be  established  by  the 
Government  for  the  safe  deposit  of  the  earnings  of  the  people  and 
to  facilitate  exchange. 

Second,  Transportation.  Transportation  being  a  means  of  ex- 
change and  a  public  necessity,  the  Government  should  own  and  oper- 
ate the  railroads  in  the  interest  of  the  people. 

(a)  The  telegraph  and  telephone,  like  the  post-office  system, 
being  a  necessity  for  the  transmission  of  news,  should  be  owned  and 
operated  by  the  Government  in  the  interest  of  the  people. 

Third,  Land.  The  land,  including  all  the  natural  sources  of 
wealth,  is  the  heritage  of  the  people,  and  should  not  be  monopolized 
for  speculative  purposes,  and  alien  ownership  of  land  should  be  pro- 
hibited. All  land  now  held  by  railroads  and  other  corporations  in 
excess  of  their  actual  needs,  and  all  lands  now  owned  by  aliens, 
should  be  reclaimed  by  the  Government  and  held  for  actual  set- 
tlers only. 

The  following  supplemental  report  was  made,  not  to  be 
regarded  as  a  part  of  the  party  platform,  but  as  expressive 
of  the  opinion  of  the  party,  as  follows : 

Whereas,  Other  questions  have  been  presented  for  our  considera- 
tion, we  hereby  submit  the  following,  not  as  a  part  of  the  platform 
of  the  People's  party,  but  as  resolutions  expressive  of  the  sentiment 
of  this  convention. 

1.  Resolved,  That  we  demand  a  free  ballot  and  a  fair  count  in  all 
elections,  and  pledge  ourselves  to  secure  it  to  every  legal  voter  with- 
out federal  intervention,  through  the  adoption  by  the  States  of  the 
unperverted  Australian  or  secret  ballot  system. 

2.  Resolved,  That  the  revenue  derived  from  a  graduated  income 
tax  should  be  applied  to  the  reduction  of  the  burden  of  taxation  now 
resting  upon  the  domestic  industries  of  this  country. 

3.  Resolved,  That  we  pledge  our  support  to  fair  and  liberal  pen- 
sions to  ex-Union  soldiers  and  sailors. 

4.  Resolved,  That  we  condemn  the  fallacy  of  protecting  American 
labor  under  the  present  system,  which  opens  our  ports  to  the  pauper 
and  criminal  classes  of  the  world,  and  crowds  out  our  wage-earners ; 
and  we  denounce  the  present  ineffective  laws  against  contract  labor, 
and  demand  the  further  restriction  of  undesirable  immigration. 

356 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

5.  Resolved,   That   we  cordially   sympathize   with   the   efforts   of 
organized  workingmen  to  shorten  the  hours  of  labor,  and  demand 
a  rigid  enforcement  of  the  existing  eight-hour  law  on  Government 
work,  and  ask  that  a  penalty  clause  be  added  to  the  said  law. 

6.  Resolved,  That  we  regard  the  maintenance  of  a  large  stand- 
ing army  of    mercenaries,  known    as    the    Pinkerton    system,  as  a 
menace  to  our  liberties,  and  we  demand  its  abolition;  and  we  con- 
demn the  recent  invasion  of  the  Territory  of  Wyoming  by  the  hired 
assassins  of  plutocracy,  assisted  by  Federal  officials. 

7.  Resolved,  That  we  commend  to  the  favorable  consideration  of 
the  people  and  the  reform  press  the  legislative  system  known  as  the 
initiative  and  referendum. 

8.  Resolved,  That  we  favor  a  constitutional  provision  limiting  the 
office  of  President  and  Vice-President  to  one  term,  and  providing 
for  the  election  of  Senators  of  the  United  States  by  a  direct  vote  of 
the  people.  , 

9.  Resolved,  That  we  oppose  any  subsidy  or  national  aid  to  any 
private  corporation  for  any  purpose. 


The  convention  was  a  mass  assembly,  as  Texas  cast  more 
votes  than  New  York  and  nearly  thrice  the  vote  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

The  Socialists'  Labor  Convention  met  at  New  York  on 
the  28th  of  August,  and  nominated  Simon  Wing,  of  Massa- 
chusetts, for  President  and  Charles  H.  Machett,  of  New 
York,  for  Vice-President,  and  adopted  the  following  plat- 
form : 


Social  Demands:  I.  Reduction  of  the  hours  of  labor  in  propor- 
tion to  the  progress  of  production. 

2.  The   United   States   shall   obtain  possession   of   the   railroads, 
canals,  telegraphs,  telephones,  and  all  other  means  of  public  trans- 
portation and  communication. 

3.  The  municipalities  to  obtain  possession  of  the  local  railroads, 
ferries,  water-works,  gas-works,  electric  plants,  and  all  industries 
requiring  municipal  franchises. 

4.  The  public  lands  to  be  declared  inalienable.     Revocation  of  all 
land  grants  to  corporations  or  individuals,  the  conditions  of  which 
have  not  been  complied  with. 

5.  Legal  incorporation  by  the  States  of  local  trade  unions  which 
have  no  national  organization. 

6.  The  United  States  to  have  the  exclusive  right  to  issue  money. 

7-  Congressional  legislation  providing  for  the  scientific  manage- 
ment of  forests  and  waterways,  and  prohibiting  the  waste  of  the 
natural  resources  of  the  country. 

8.  Inventions  to  be  free  to  all ;  the  inventors  to  be  remunerated  by 
the  nation. 

9.  Progressive  income  tax  and  tax  on  inheritances ;  the  smaller 
incomes  to  be  exempt. 

357 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

10.  School  education  of  all  children  under  fourteen  years  of  age 
to  be  compulsory,  gratuitous,  and  accessible  to  all  by  public  assist- 
ance in  meals,  clothing,  books,  etc.,  where  necessary. 

11.  Repeal  of  all  pauper,  tramp,  conspiracy,  and  sumptuary  laws. 
Unabridged  right  of  combination. 

12.  Official    statistics   concerning  the   condition   of   labor.     Prohi- 
bition of  the  employment  of  children  of  school  age,  and  of  the  em- 
ployment of  female  labor  in  occupations  detrimental   to  health  or 
morality.     Abolition  of  the  convict  labor  contract  system. 

13.  All  wages  to  be  paid  in  lawful  money  of  the  United  States. 
Equalization  of  women's  wages  with  those  of  men  where  equal  ser- 
vice is  performed. 

14.  Laws  for  the  protection  of  life  and  limb  in  all  occupations,  and 
an  efficient  employers'  liability  law. 

Political  Demands:  i.  The  people  to  have  the  right  to  propose 
laws  and  to  vote  upon  all  measures  of  importance,  according  to  the 
referendum  principle. 

2.  Abolition  of  the  Presidency,  Vice-Presidency,  and  Senate  of  the 
United  States.    An  Executive  Board  to  be  established,  whose  mem- 
bers are  to  be  elected,  and  may  at  any  time  be  recalled,  by  the  House 
of  Representatives,  as  the  only  legislative  body.       The  States  and 
municipalities  to  adopt  corresponding  amendments  to  their  consti- 
tutions and  statutes. 

3.  Municipal  self-government. 

4.  Direct  vote  and  secret  ballots  in  all  elections.     Universal  and 
equal  right  of  suffrage,  without  regard  to  color,  creed,  or  sex.    Elec- 
tion days  to  be  legal  holidays.     The  principle  of  minority  represen- 
tation to  be  introduced. 

5.  All  public  officers  to  be  subject  to  recall  by  their  respective  con- 
stituencies. 

6.  Uniform  civil  and  criminal  law  throughout  the  United  States. 
Administration  of  justice  to  be  free  of  charge.     Abolition  of  capital 
punishment. 

The  battle  between  Cleveland  and  Harrison  was  very 
earnestly  contested,  and  it  will  be  remembered  as  the  only 
instance  in  which  the  party  of  power  was  defeated  when 
the  country  was  prosperous.  The  McKinley  Tariff  bill  had 
largely  increased  protection  to  our  manufactures,  but  without 
materially  increasing  wages.  The  result  was  an  unusual 
number  of  labor  strikes,  the  most  notable  of  which  was  that 
of  Homestead  at  the  Carnegie  works,  and  the  Republicans 
suffered  very  generally  throughout  the  country  by  the  loss 
of  industrial  votes. 

The  following  table  presents  the  popular  and  electoral 
vote  of  1892 : 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


STATES. 

POPULAR  VOTE. 

ELECTORAL 
VOTE. 

Grover  Cleveland, 
Democrat. 

Benjamin  Harrison, 
Republican. 

James  B.  Weaver, 
Populist. 

John  Bidwell, 
Prohibitionist. 

*_ 

6 

| 

3 

"o 
H 

I 

B 

•3 
d 

1 

f§ 

Harrison  and  Reid. 

Weaver  and  Field. 

Alabama 

138,138 
87,834 
118,293 

82,395 
18,581 
30,143 
129,361 

9,197 
46,884 
118,149 
88,6*) 
77,025 
18,083 

85,181 
11,831 
25,352 
53,584 
806 
13 
4,843 
42,937 
10,520 
22,207 
2MH 
20,595 
163,111 
23,500 
13,281 
2,381 
796 
3,210 
19,892 
29,313 
10.256 
41,213 
7,334 
83,134 
7,264 
292 
969 
16,429 
44,736 
17,700 
14,850 
26,965 
8,714 
228 
2,407 
26,544 
23,477 
99,688 
43 
12,275 
19,165 
4,166 
9,909 
7,722 

239 
113 
8,129 
1,638 
4,025 
565 
475 
988 
288 
25,870 
13,050 
6,402 
4,539 
6,442 

232,755 
146,662 
MLflBfl 
93,842 
164,251 
37,242 
35,461 
221,591 
19,407 
873,646 
553.613 
443,159 
804,887 
340,844 
114,485 
116,410 
213,275 
390,376 
458,965 
MftJH 
52,809 
M0£80 
44,315 

*<o,'m 

10,878 
BMH 
336,210 
1.318.SJ7 
880,666 
36,118 
850,164 
78,491 
1,002,112 
53,189 
70,444 
70,513 
267,533 
«B,446 
55,775 
HM8I 
B7,MQ 
171,071 
371,167 
16,706 

11 

8 
8 

~6 
3 
4 
13 

1 

4 

Arkansas  

California. 

Colorado  

Connecticut  .  .  . 

Delaware  

Florida 

Georgia 

48,305 
8,599 
399,288 
255,615 
219,795 
157,237 
135,441 
13,282 
62,923 
92,736 
802,814 
222,708 
122,823 
1,406 
226,918 
18,851 
87,227 
2,811 
45,658 
156,068 
609,350 
100,342 
17,519 
405,187 
35,002 
516,011 
98,971 
13,345 
M£H 
100,331 
81,444 
37,992 
113,262 
H,4fO 
80,293 
170,791 
8,454 

- 

~8 

10 

3 

1 
1 

Idaho 

Illinois 

426,281 
MJ40 
196,367 

24 

15 

13 

Indiana  .... 

Iowa 

Kentucky 

175.461 
87,922 
48,044 
113,866 
176,813 
202,296 
100,920 
40.237 

K&m 

17,581 
21,943 
714 
42,081 
171,042 
654,868 
132,951 

13 

8 

8 
5 

9 

17 

10 
36 
11 
1 
1 

~9 

- 

Maine.  ...          ... 

3,062 
5,877 
7,539 
14,069 
12,182 
910 
4,331 
549 
4,902 
89 
1,297 
8,131 
38,190 
2,636 
899 
26,012 
2,281 
25,123 
1,654 

6 

15 
9 
9 

1 

8 

4 

Maryland  

Massachusetts  
Michigan 

Minnesota  
Mississippi  
Missouri 

Montana 

Nebraska. 

Nevada 

New  Hampshire.  . 
New  Jersey 

New  York  

22 
3 
32 
4 

North  Carolina... 
North  Dakota  .... 
Ohio  

404,115 
14.S43 
452,264 
24.335 
54,692 
9,081 
138,874 
239,148 
1MS8 
163,977 
29,802 

*4.  I'M 

177,335 

Oregon  .  .  . 

Pennsylvania  
Rhode  Island  
South  Carolina... 
South  Dakota.   ... 
Tennessee 

4 

4 

~4 

3 
145 

4,851 
2,165 
1,415 
2,738 
2,542 
2,145 
13,132 
530 

12 
15 

12 

6 
12 

- 

Texas  

Vermont 

Virginia  

Washington  .  .  , 
West  Virginia.... 
Wisconsin  

Wyoming  

Totals  

5,556,928 

5,176,106" 

1,041,021 

262,034 

12,036,089 

277 

22 

*  Simon  Wing,  the  Socialist-Labor  candidate,  polled  a  total  of  21,164  votes, 
which  is  included  in  the  total  vote. 

One  of  the  notable  features  of  the  foregoing  table  is  in 
the  fact  that  both  Republicans  and  Democrats  fused  with 


359 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

the  Weaver  or  People's  party  in  different  States.  No  votes 
were  cast  for  Cleveland  in  Colorado,  Kansas,  North  Dakota, 
and  Wyoming,  and  none  were  cast  for  Harrison  in  Florida, 
and  only  a  nominal  vote  given  him  in  Alabama  and  Missis- 
sippi. The  general  political  disturbance  of  the  country  may 
be  understood  when  it  is  remembered  that  Weaver  received 
near  a  million  votes  for  President,  while  the  Prohibition 
candidate  kept  the  vote  of  that  party  up  to  its  highest  point. 
Cleveland  and  Jackson  are  the  only  Presidential  candi- 
dates in  the  history  of  the  Republic  who  made  three  con- 
secutive contests  for  the  place,  carried  a  popular  plurality  or 
majority  each  time,  and  increased  it  at  each  successive 
contest,  and  both  were  defeated  in  one  battle,  although 
receiving  a  larger  popular  vote  than  the  successful  com- 
petitor. 


WILLIAM  MCKINLBT 


THE  McKINLEY-BRYAN  CONTEST 

1896 


CLEVELAND  and  Harrison  were  cast  in  the  same  mould  of 
statesmanship,  differing  only  in  degree,  and  they  had  some 
important  qualities  in  common.  Both  stood  for  a  better 
political  system  than  was  acceptable  to  their  respective 
parties,  and  both  regarded  public  duty  as  paramount  to 
political  or  individual  interests.  They  are  the  only  two  men 
of  the  nation  each  of  whom  retired  from  the  Presidency 
defeated  by  the  other.  Both  were  vastly  in  advance  of  the 
dominant  sentiment  of  their  followers  in  the  support  of  civil 
service  reform.  Neither  of  them  was  accomplished  as  a 
national  politician.  They  never  could  have  nominated  them- 
selves for  President  by  political  manipulation,  nor  could  they 
have  mastered  the  intricacies  inevitable  in  the  management 
of  a  great  national  contest.  They  employed  none  of  the  arts 
which  have  been  common  among  public  men  to  popularize 
themselves,  and  both  were  called  to  the  leadership  of  their 
respective  parties  in  Presidential  battles  because  they  were 
wanted  rather  than  because  they  wanted  the  place.  Both 
were  regarded  as  unsympathetic  by  the  ardent  political 
leaders  of  their  parties  when  it  came  to  the  distribution  of 
administration  patronage,  and  yet  no  two  Presidents  were 
ever  more  pronounced  in  their  devotion  to  their  party  faith. 

Cleveland  was  a  Democrat  all  through  from  hat  to  boots ; 
Harrison  was  equally  positive  as  a  Republican,  and  both  held 
to  the  better  teachings  of  their  parties  in  the  better  days. 
Cleveland  was  a  Jackson  Democrat,  Harrison  a  Lincoln 
Republican,  and  neither  took  to  the  modern  political  frills 
which  sacrifice  the  substance  of  conviction  to  glittering 
shadows  to  protect  political  degeneracy.  Cleveland  was  the 
more  positive  in  purpose  and  bolder  in  action ;  Harrison  was 
probably  the  stronger  intellectual  force,  with  greater  aptness 
in  adaptability  to  political  movements,  and  both  were  thor- 

361 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

oughly  honest,  tireless  in  devotion  to  duty,  and  sincerely 
patriotic.  Both  were  exemplars  of  public  and  private  purity, 
alike  in  home  and  trust,  and  the  prattle  of  "  Baby  McKee" 
and  of  "  Little  Ruth  "  would  at  any  time  call  either  to  forget- 
fulness  of  the  honors  and  cares  of  State.  Both  finally  retired 
from  the  Presidency,  leaving  records  as  Chief  Magistrates 
which  will  ever  shed  rich  lustre  upon  the  annals  of  the  Re- 
public. 

Cleveland's  second  administration  fell  upon  troublous 
times.  The  country  was  about  to  enter  upon  a  severe  season 
of  industrial  and  business  depression,  that  no  political  power 
nor  the  wisest  legislation  could  have  prevented.  The  prod- 
ucts of  our  farms  had  reached  the  minimum  of  value.  Debts 
were  steadily  increasing,  labor  was  largely  unemployed,  and 
consumption  of  the  necessaries  of  life  was  reduced  to  the  low- 
est standard.  The  McKinley  tariff  of  1890  had  given  ex- 
cessive protection  to  our  industries,  but  that  only  stimulated 
production  while  it  narrowed  the  markets  for  our  products, 
and  it  was  not  surprising  when  silver  reached  the  point  that 
made  a  dollar  worth  only  50  cents,  that  the  free  silver  theory 
should  attract  the  hopeless  debtor  class  by  the  promise  of  pay- 
ing their  obligations  practically  with  one-half  the  money  they 
had  borrowed. 

Both  parties  were  severely  honeycombed  with  the  cheap- 
money  theory,  and  although  Cleveland  had  a  Democratic 
Congress  and  was  able,  after  the  most  exhaustive  effort,  to 
halt  the  continued  purchase  of  silver  for  coinage,  it  was  the 
last  and  only  achievement  he  attained  with  the  aid  of  Con- 
gress to  better  our  financial  system.  It  was  most  fortunate 
for  the  country  that  in  this  fearful  peril  to  our  national  credit 
Grover  Cleveland  was  President  of  the  United  States.  He 
stood  impregnable  as  the  rock  of  Gibraltar  when  the  fierce 
waves  of  repudiation  surged  against  him  from  both  parties, 
and  when  the  West  and  South  appeared  to  be  practically 
unanimous  in  demanding  cheap  money,  while  even  the  more 
stable  business  and  financial  States  of  the  North  were  greatly 
divided  on  the  issue.  Just  as  the  peril  to  our  national  honor 
increased  Cleveland's  determination  and  courage  to  maintain 
the  right  increased  with  it,  and  he  finally  braved  a  howling 
repudiation  Congress  by  a  demand  for  gold  bonds  to  sustain 
Government  credit  with  notice  that,  if  refused  by  Congress, 
whereby  a  loss  of  many  millions  would  be  forced  upon  the 
country,  he  would  sell  bonds,  as  then  authorized  by  law,  to 

362 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

any  extent  necessary  to  maintain  the  most  scrupulous  faith 
of  the  nation. 

Congress  refused  and  Cleveland  stood  grandly  alone  with 
Congress  against  him,  and  saved  the  Republic  from  a  stain  of 
dishonor  that  would  have  been  ineffaceable.  This  was  a  vastly 
more  heroic  act  than  Jackson's  throttling  of  nullification,  as 
Jackson  was  sustained  by  the  patriotic  devotion  to  the  Union. 
Another  record  of  his  administration  that  stands  out  among 
the  heroic  of  Presidential  actions  was  his  promptness  and 
courage  in  meeting  the  Chicago  riots  when  the  commerce  of 
the  nation  was  interrupted  by  lawlessness.  In  a  single  order 
issued  by  Cleveland  directing  public  peace  to  be  maintained 
and  commerce  permitted  to  go  on  uninterrupted  by  the  strong 
arm  of  national  power  he  effaced  forever  the  last  lingering 
dregs  of  States'  rights  that  would  make  a  great  Common- 
wealth the  prey  of  the  lawless  with  the  National  Government 
powerless  to  interfere.  The  Governor  of  Illinois  was  in 
hearty  and  open  sympathy  with  the  lawless,  and  refused  the 
protection  to  public  peace  and  to  commerce  that  was  his 
sworn  duty  to  give,  and  the  civil  authorities  of  Chicago  were 
the  mere  plaything  of  the  mob. 

These  two  acts  of  Grover  Cleveland  will  go  into  history  as 
among  the  most  heroic  and  self-sacrificing  acts  of  any  of  our 
long  line  of  Presidents.  Harrison  would  doubtless  have  met 
both  of  these  emergencies  as  Cleveland  did,  but  Cleveland 
had  to  brave  the  overwhelming  prejudices  of  his  own  party 
to  discharge  the  duty,  while  Harrison  would  have  been 
heartily  and  unitedly  sustained  by  his  party  in  meeting  the 
Chicago  issue,  and  would  have  had  the  majority  of  his  party 
followers  in  sympathy  with  him  in  maintaining  the  national 
credit.  Cleveland  retired  from  his  second  term  of  the  Presi- 
dency with  his  party  very  generally  alienated  from  him,  and 
yet  he  had  not  in  any  material  degree  departed  from  the 
Democratic  platform  on  which  he  was  re-elected.  He  was 
not  in  any  measure  an  apostate,  but  he  stood  resolutely  where 
his  party  had  planted  him,  while  his  party  apostatized  and 
became  his  bitterest  foe. 

No  administration  can  command  the  support  of  the  coun- 
try when  industry  and  trade  are  severely  depressed.  It  mat- 
ters not  what  may  be  the  true  cause  of  financial,  commercial, 
and  industrial  revulsion ;  it  is  always  charged  to  the  policy  of 
the  party  in  power,  and  Cleveland  could  not  escape  political 
disaster  because  of  conditions  which  he  had  no  more  part 

363 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

in  producing  than  he  had  in  creating  the  stars  when  they  first 
sang  together.  The  mid-administration  elections  of  1894 
resulted  in  the  most  disastrous  defeat  the  Democracy  had 
ever  suffered,  and  the  cheap-money  heresy  rapidly  grew  in 
strength,  disintegrating  both  the  old  parties  until  the  ques- 
tion of  maintaining  national  credit  became  one  of  the  gravest 
ever  presented  to  the  people,  with  the  single  exception  of  the 
secession  that  caused  our  civil  war. 

The  Wilson  Tariff  bill  was  passed  with  protective  features 
sufficiently  liberal  to  maintain  our  industries  with  the  en- 
larged markets  it  would  have  produced  for  American  prod- 
ucts, but  it  was  assailed  as  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  our 
industrial  depression,  and  it  became  an  important  factor  in 
the  election  of  McKinley  in  1896.  It  is  now  demonstrated 
before  the  close  of  the  McKinley  administration,  that  the  pro- 
tective features  of  the  Wilson  bill  were  more  than  equal  to 
the  necessities  of  the  present.  New  and  unexpected  condi- 
tions brought  this  country  suddenly  to  a  policy  of  expansion 
in  territory  and  trade,  and  to-day  we  have  hardly  an  indus- 
try that  really  needs  protection  if  it  can  have  free  markets 
for  its  products. 

Cleveland  was  bitterly  assailed  as  unfriendly  to  a  liberal 
pension  policy  for  our  soldiers.  He  came  into  his  second 
term  in  the  midst  of  a  tidal  wave  of  pension  profligacy. 
Private  pensions  were  passed  by  the  hundreds  in  Congress 
usually  without  debate,  and  often  with  only  a  small  frac- 
tion of  a  quorum  present.  Cleveland  vetoed  a  number  of 
these  bills,  and  I  cannot  recall  one  vetoed  private  pension 
bill  that  was  passed  over  his  veto,  although  there  may  have 
been  a  very  few. 

I  happened  to  witness  a  painful  exhibition  of  the  coward- 
ice of  Congressmen  in  meeting  the  pension  question  after 
Cleveland  had  vetoed  a  bill  greatly  enlarging  our  pension 
system.  On  the  morning  of  the  day  that  the  veto  was  to  be 
taken  in  the  House  to  sustain  the  veto  or  pass  the  bill,  not- 
withstanding the  objections  of  the  President,  I  called  upon 
Speaker  Carlisle  in  his  room  in  the  Capitol,  and  there  found 
him  in  earnest  consultation  with  twelve  or  fifteen  leading 
Democratic  Congressmen.  There  was  grave  danger  that  the 
bill  would  pass  over  the  veto,  although  certainly  not  one-third 
of  the  members  of  the  House  believed  that  the  bill  was  just. 
The  question  discussed  at  that  conference  was  who  of  the 
•Democratic  leaders  could  afford  to  take  the  floor  in  defence 

364 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

of  the  veto.  All  heartily  approved  of  it,  but  only  two  of  all 
those  present  expressed  his  willingness  to  come  to  the  front 
and  stand  for  the  right.  Governor  Curtin,  then  a  member  of 
the  House,  had  the  courage  to  say  that  as  the  friend  of  the 
true  soldier  he  would  defend  the  veto  on  the  floor,  and  while 
every  one  present  agreed  with  him,  a  majority  of  them  de- 
clared that  it  was  a  necessity,  for  their  own  safety  at  home, 
to  vote  for  the  bill.  It  was  only  by  the  greatest  effort  that 
the  veto  was  sustained  for  want  of  a  two-thirds  vote, 
although  a  decided  majority  of  the  House  voted  for  the  bill. 

Such  were  the  conditions  in  which  the  people  entered 
upon  the  memorable  contest  of  1896.  Governor  McKinley 
and  Speaker  Reed  took  the  lead  early  in  the  race  for  the 
Republican  nomination  for  President,  and  McKinley  was 
most  fortunate  in  having  his  Warwick  in  Mark  A.  Hanna, 
of  Ohio,  who  conducted  the  McKinley  battle  on  the  same 
lines  that  Samuel  J.  Tilden  conducted  the  contest  for  his 
nomination  in  1876.  His  fight  was  won  by  well-organized 
and  earnestly  directed  contests  in  every  debatable  State,  and 
for  a  year  or  more  before  the  convention  met  Hanna  was 
tireless  in  his  work.  He  had  a  strong  candidate  in  McKin- 
ley; a  man  of  blameless  character,  of  admitted  ability,  a 
champion  of  protection,  a  soldier  who  had  carried  his  musket 
as  a  private  in  the  flame  of  battle,  and  possessing  many 
attributes  of  personal  popularity.  Reed  in  his  rough  way 
fought  his  battle  more  heroically  than  wisely,  and  was  finally 
unhorsed  at  the  close  of  the  contest  by  McKinley  sweeping 
some  of  the  New  England  States  from  him.  That  defeated 
Reed,  and  McKinley's  nomination  was  assured. 

On  only  one  point  did  Hanna  seriously  miscalculate  the 
lines  of  safety.  He  saw  the  cheap-money  and  repudiation 
issue  formidable  on  every  side  and  in  both  parties,  and  he 
decided  that  McKinley  should  be  nominated  for  President  on 
a  platform  that  straddled  the  money  issue  in  a  cowardly  way. 
In  order  to  give  the  cue  to  the  party  on  the  money  issue,  he 
called  the  Republican  State  Convention  of  Ohio  to  meet 
on  the  nth  of  March,  1896,  and  that  convention  adopted 
the  following  money  plank,  intended  to  be  the  McKinley 
platform : 

"  We  contend  for  honest  money ;  for  a  currency  of  gold,  silver, 
and  paper  with  which  to  measure  our  exchanges,  that  shall  be  as 
sound  as  the  Government  and  as  untarnished  as  its  honor,  and  to 
that  end  we  favor  bimetallism,  and  demand  the  use  of  both  gold  and 

365 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

silver  as  standard  money,  either  in  accordance  with  a  ratio  to  be 
fixed  by  an  international  agreement,  if  that  can  be  obtained,  or  under 
such  restrictions  and  such  provisions,  to  be  determined  by  legisla- 
tion, as  will  secure  the  maintenance  of  the  parities  of  value  of  the 
two  metals  so  that  the  purchasing  and  debt-paying  power  of  the  dol- 
lar, whether  of  silver,  gold,  or  paper,  shall  be  at  all  times  equal." 

The  Ohio  money  plank  was  generally  accepted  by  the 
Republicans  of  the  West  as  a  cunning  straddle,  that  would 
hold  the  cheap-money  Republicans,  whose  devotion  to  pro- 
tection made  them  willing  to  yield  something  on  the  money 
question,  but  it  was  severely  criticised  by  a  number  of  the 
ablest  Republicans  of  the  East,  and  before  the  convention 
met  it  became  evident  that  the  friends  of  an  emphatic  honest- 
money  plank  were  likely  to  dominate  the  body. 

The  Republican  National  Convention  met  at  St.  Louis 
on  the  i6th  of  June.  There  was  little  or  no  dispute  as  to 
who  would  be  nominated  for  President,  as  a  decided  majority 
of  the  delegates  came  there  for  the  purpose  of  nominating 
McKinley.  Charles  W.  Fairbanks,  of  Indiana,  was  tem- 
porary chairman  and  present  Senator  John  M.  Thurston,  of 
Nebraska,  permanent  president.  The  struggle  over  the 
money  plank  of  the  platform  kept  the  convention  in  idleness 
until  the  third  day,  when  an  agreement  was  reached  in  favor 
of  the  gold  standard.  There  has  been  some  dispute  recently 
as  to  who  made  Hanna  adopt  the  gold  platform.  There  were 
many  and  very  earnest  consultations  in  St.  Louis  before  an 
agreement  with  Hanna  could  be  reached,  and  it  was  finally 
accomplished  by  a  number  of  able  members  of  the  body 
deciding  that  they  would  notify  Hanna,  giving  him  one  hour 
to  accept  the  gold-standard  platform,  or  they  would  carry  it 
into  the  convention  and  compel  McKinley's  friends  to  meet 
the  issue  in  open  debate.*  I  was  at  the  same  hotel,  on  the 
same  floor  with  Hanna,  and  knew  just  when  that  proposition 
was  sent  to  him,  and  knew  also  that  in  little  over  half  an 
hour  he  agreed  to  the  demand  of  the  gold-standard  Repub- 
licans, and  it  was  then  adopted  without  a  contest.  When 
the  platform  was  reported,  Senator  Teller,  of  Colorado,  who 
led  the  Silver  Republicans,  and  who  was  a  member  of  the 
committee  on  resolutions,  offered  the  following  as  a  substi- 
tute for  the  money  plank  of  the  platform : 

"  The  Republican  party  favors  the  use  of  both  gold  and  silver  as 
equal  standard  money,  and  pledges  its  power  to  secure  the  free,  un- 
restricted, and  independent  coinage  of  gold  and  silver  at  our  mints 
at  the  ratio  of  16  parts  of  silver  to  I  of  gold." 

*See  Preface  to  Seconci  Edition. 

366 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

Senator  Teller  delivered  an  earnest  and  able  argument 
in  support  of  his  substitute,  but  it  was  rejected  by  8i£J  votes 
to  105  J.  A  separate  vote  was  also  had  on  the  financial  plank 
as  reported  by  the  majority,  and  it  was  adopted  by  812^  to 
i  xoj.  When  the  platform  was  adopted,  Senator  Cannon,  of 
Utah,  presented  a  protest  against  the  money  plank  of  the 
platform,  after  which  thirty-four  delegates  from  the  Western 
States,  including  Senators  Teller  and  Cannon,  withdrew 
from  the  convention.  There  was  only  one  ballot  for  Presi- 
dent, as  follows : 


William  B.  Allison,  la  . . 
J.  Donald  Cameron,  Pa. . 
Blank 


William  McKinley,  Ohio  . 

Thomas  B.  Reed,  Me  ....  84^ 

Matthew  S.  Quay,  Pa 61  j| 

Levi  P.  Morton.'N.  Y..  58 


The  nomination  of  Garret  A.  Hobart,  of  New  Jersey,  for 
Yice-President  was  made  on  the  ist  ballot  by  the  following 
vote: 


Garret  A.  Hobart,  N.  J. . .  535^ 
Henry  Clay  Evans,  Tenn.  277jf 
Morgan  J.  Bulkeley,  Conn.  39 

James  A.  Walker,  Va 24 

Charles  E.  Lippitt,  R.  I. .       8 


Thomas  B.  Reed,  Maine 3 

Chauncey  M.  Depew,  N.  Y. . .  3 

John  M.  Thurston,  Neb 2 

FredD.  Grant,  N.  Y 2 

Levi  P.  Morton,  N.  Y 1 


The  nominations  of  McKinley  and  Hobart  were  made 
unanimous  with  the  wildest  enthusiasm.  The  following  is 
the  Republican  platform  as  adopted  by  the  convention : 

The  Republicans  of  the  United  States,  assembled  by  their  repre- 
sentatives in  national  convention,  appealing  for  the  popular  and  his- 
torical justification  of  their  claims  to  the  matchless  achievements  of 
the  thirty  years  of  Republican  rule,  earnestly  and  confidently  address 
themselves  to  the  awakened  intelligence,  experience,  and  conscience 
of  their  countrymen  in  the  following  declaration  of  facts  and  prin- 
ciples : 

For  the  first  time  since  the  Civil  War  the  American  people  have 
witnessed  the  calamitous  consequences  of  full  and  unrestricted 
Democratic  control  of  the  Government.  It  has  been  a  record  of 
unparalleled  incapacity,  dishonor,  and  disaster.  In  administrative 
management  it  has  ruthlessly  sacrificed  indispensable  revenue,  en- 
tailed an  unceasing  deficit,  eked  out  ordinary  current  expenses  with 
borrowed  money,  piled  up  the  public  debt  by  $262,000,000  in  time  of 
peace,  forced  an  adverse  balance  of  trade,  kept  a  perpetual  menace 
hanging  over  the  redemption  fund,  pawned  American  credit  to  alien 
syndicate?,  and  reversed  all  the  measures  and  results  of  successful 
Republican  rule. 

In  the  broad  effect  of  its  policy  it  has  precipitated  panic,  blighted 

367 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

industry  and  trade  with  prolonged  depression,  closed  factories, 
reduced  work  and  wages,  halted  enterprise,  and  crippled  American 
production  while  stimulating  foreign  production  for  the  American 
market.  Every  consideration  of  public  safety  and  individual  inter- 
est demands  that  the  Government  shall  be  rescued  from  the  hands 
of  those  who  have  shown  themselves  incapable  of  conducting  it 
without  disaster  at  home  and  dishonor  abroad,  and  shall  be  restored 
to  the  party  which  for  thirty  years  administered  it  with  unequalled 
success  and  prosperity,  and  in  this  connection  we  heartily  endorse 
the  wisdom,  the  patriotism,  and  the  success  of  the  administration  of 
President  Harrison. 

We  renew  and  emphasize  our  allegiance  to  the  policy  of  protection 
as  the  bulwark  of  American  industrial  independence  and  the  foun- 
dation of  American  development  and  prosperity.  This  true  Ameri- 
can policy  taxes  foreign  products  and  encourages  home  industry; 
it  puts  the  burden  of  revenue  on  foreign  goods ;  it  secures  the  Ameri- 
can market  for  the  American  producer;  it  upholds  the  American 
standard  of  wages  for  the  American  workingman;  it  puts  the  fac- 
tory by  the  side  of  the  farm,  and  makes  the  American  farmer  less 
dependent  on  foreign  demand  and  price;  it  diffuses  general  thrift, 
and  founds  the  strength  of  all  on  the  strength  of  each.  In  its  rea- 
sonable application  it  is  just,  fair,  and  impartial,  equally  opposed 
to  foreign  control  and  domestic  monopoly,  to  sectional  discrimina- 
tion and  individual  favoritism. 

We  denounce  the  present  Democratic  tariff  as  sectional,  injurious 
to  the  public  credit,  and  destructive  to  business  enterprise.  We 
demand  such  an  equitable  tariff  on  foreign  imports  which  come  into 
competition  with  American  products  as  will  not  only  furnish  ade- 
quate revenue  for  the  necessary  expenses  of  the  Government,  but 
will  protect  American  labor  from  degradation  to  the  wage  level  of 
other  lands.  We  are  not  pledged  to  any  particular  schedules.  The 
question  of  rates  is  a  practical  question,  to  be  governed  by  the  con- 
ditions of  the_time  and  of  production;  the  ruling  and  uncompromis- 
ing principle  is  the  protection  and  development  of  American  labor 
and  industry.  The  country  demands  a  right  settlement,  and  then  it 
wants  rest 

We  believe  the  repeal  of  the  reciprocity  arrangements  negotiated 
"by  the  last  Republican  administration  was  a  national  calamity,  and 
we  demand  their  renewal  and  extension  on  such  terms  as  will  equal- 
ize our  trade  with  other  nations,  remove  the  restrictions  which  now 
obstruct  the  sale  of  American  products  in  the  ports  of  other  coun- 
tries, and  secure  enlarged  markets  for  the  products  of  our  farms, 
forests,  and  factories. 

Protection  and  reciprocity  are  twin  measures  of  Republican  policy, 
and  go  hand  in  hand.  Democratic  rule  has  recklessly  struck  down 
both,  and  both  must  be  re-established.  Protection  for  what  we  pro- 
duce; free  admission  for  the  necessaries  of  life  which  we  do  not 
produce ;  reciprocity  agreements  of  mutual  interests  which  gain  open 
markets  for  us  in  return  for  our  open  market  to  others.  Protection 
builds  up  domestic  industry  and  trade,  and  secures  our  own  market 
for  ourselves :  reciprocity  builds  up  foreign  trade  and  finds  an  out- 
let for  our  surplus. 

We  condemn  the  present  administration  for  not  keeping  faith  with 
the  sugar-producers  of  this  coimtry.  The  Republican  party  favors 

368 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

such  protection  as  will  lead  to  the  production  on  American  soil  of 
all  the  sugar  which  the  American  people  use,  and  for  which  they 
pay  other  countries  more  than  $100,000,000  annually. 

To  all  our  products — to  those  of  the  mine  and  the  fields,  as  well 
as  those  of  the  shop  and  factory ;  to  hemp,  to  wool,  the  product  of 
the  great  industry  of  sheep  husbandry,  as  well  as  to  the  finished 
woollens  of  the  mills — we  promise  the  most  ample  protection. 

We  favor  restoring  the  early  American  policy  of  discriminating 
duties  for  the  upbuilding  of  our  merchant  marine  and  the  protection 
of  our  shipping  in  the  foreign  carrying  trade,  so  that  American 
ships — the  product  of  American  labor,  employed  in  American  ship- 
yards, sailing  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  and  manned,  officered, 
and  owned  by  Americans — may  regain  the  carrying  of  our  foreign 
commerce. 

The  Republican  party  is  unreservedly  for  sound  money.  It  caused 
the  enactment  of  the  law  providing  for  the  resumption  of  specie 
payments  in  1879;  since  then  every  dollar  has  been  as  good  as  gold. 

We  are  unalterably  opposed  to  every  measure  calculated  to  debase 
our  currency  or  impair  the  credit  of  our  country.  We  are,  there- 
fore, opposed  to  the  free  coinage  of  silver,  except  by  international 
agreement  with  the  leading  commercial  nations  of  the  world,  which 
we  pledge  ourselves  to  promote,  and  until  such  agreement  can  be 
obtained  the  existing  gold  standard  must  be  preserved.  All  our  sil- 
ver and  paper  currency  must  be  maintained  at  parity  with  gold,  and 
we  favor  all  measures  designed  to  maintain  inviolably  the  obliga- 
tions of  the  United  States  and  all  our  money,  whether  coin  or  paper, 
at  the  present  standard,  the  standard  of  the  most  enlightened  nations 
of  the  earth. 

The  veterans  of  the  Union  armies  deserve  and  should  receive  fair 
treatment  and  generous  recognition.  Whenever  practicable,  they 
should  be  given  the  preference  in  the  matter  of  employment,  and 
they  are  entitled  to  the  enactment  of  such  laws  as  are  best  calculated 
to  secure  the  fulfilment  of  the  pledges  made  to  them  in  the  dark 
days  of  the  country's  peril.  We  denounce  the  practice  in  the  Pen- 
sion Bureau,  so  recklessly  and  unjustly  carried  on  by  the  present 
administration,  of  reducing  pensions  and  arbitrarily  dropping  names 
from  the  rolls,  as  deserving  the  severest  condemnation  of  the  Ameri- 
can people. 

Our  foreign  policy  should  be  at  all  times  firm,  vigorous,  and  digni- 
fied, and  all  our  interests  in  the  Western  Hemisphere  carefully 
watched  and  guarded.  The  Hawaiian  Islands  should  be  controlled 
by  the  United  States,  and  no  foreign  power  should  be  permitted  to 
interfere  with  them ;  the  Nicaragua  Canal  should  be  built,  owned, 
and  operated  by  the  United  States ;  and  by  the  purchase  of  the  Dan- 
ish islands  we  should  secure  a  proper  and  much-needed  naval  station 
in  the  West  Indies. 

The  massacres  in  Armenia  have  aroused  the  deep  sympathy  and 
just  indignation  of  the  American  people,  and  we  believe  that  the 
United  States  should  exercise  all  the  influence  it  can  properly  exert 
to  bring  these  atrocities  to  an  end.  In  Turkey,  American  residents 
have  been  exposed  to  the  gravest  dangers  and  American  property 
destroyed.  There  and  everywhere  American  citizens  and  American 
property  must  be  absolutely  protected  at  all  hazards  and  at  any  cost. 

We  reassert  the  Monroe  Doctrine  in  its  full  extent,  and  we  re- 

369 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

affirm  the  right  of  the  United  States  to  give  the  doctrine  effect  by 
responding  to  the  appeal  of  any  American  State  for  friendly  inter- 
vention in  case  of  European  encroachment.  We  have  not  interfered 
and  shall  not  interfere  with  the  existing  possessions  of  any  Euro- 
pean power  in  this  hemisphere,  but  those  possessions  must  not  on 
any  pretext  be  extended.  We  hopefully  look  forward  to  the  eventual 
withdrawal  of  the  European  powers  from  this  hemisphere,  and  to 
the  ultimate  union  of  all  English-speaking  parts  of  the  continent  by 
the  free  consent  of  its  inhabitants. 

From  the  hour  of  achieving  their  own  independence,  the  people 
of  the  United  States  have  regarded  with  sympathy  the  struggles  of 
other  American  people  to  free  themselves  from  European  domina- 
tion. We  watch  with  deep  and  abiding  interest  the  heroic  battle  of 
the  Cuban  patriots  against  cruelty  and  oppression,  and  our  best 
hopes  go  out  for  the  full  success  of  their  determined  contest  for 
liberty. 

The  Government  of  Spain,  having  lost  control  of  Cuba,  and  being 
unable  to  protect  the  property  or  lives  of  resident  American  citizens, 
or  to  comply  with  its  treaty  obligations,  we  believe  that  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  should  actively  use  its  influence  and 
good  offices  to  restore  peace  and  give  independence  to  the  island. 

The  peace  and  security  of  the  Republic  and  the  maintenance  of  its 
rightful  influence  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  demand  a  naval 
power  commensurate  with  its  position  and  responsibility.  We  there- 
fore favor  the  continued  enlargement  of  the  navy  and  a  complete 
system  of  harbor  and  seacoast  defences. 

For  the  protection  of  the  quality  of  our  American  citizenship  and 
of  the  wages  of  our  workingmen  against  the  fatal  competition  of 
low-priced  labor,  we  demand  that  the  immigration  laws  be  thor- 
oughly enforced,  and  so  extended  as  to  exclude  from  entrance  to  the 
United  States  those  who  can  neither  read  nor  write. 

The  civil  service  law  was  placed  on  the  statute  book  by  the  Re- 
publican party,  which  has  always  sustained  it,  and  we  renew  our 
repeated  declarations  that  it  shall  be  thoroughly  and  honestly  en- 
forced and  extended  wherever  practicable. 

We  demand  that  every  citizen  of  the  United  States  shall  be  allowed 
to  cast  one  free  and  unrestricted  ballot,  and  that  such  ballot  shall 
be  counted  and  returned  as  cast. 

We  proclaim  our  unqualified  condemnation  of  the  uncivilized  and 
barbarous  practice,  well  known  as  lynching,  or  killing  of  human 
beings  suspected  or  charged  with  crime,  without  process  of  law. 

We  favor  the  creation  of  a  national  Board  of  Arbitration  to  settle 
and  adjust  differences  which  may  arise  between  employers  and 
employes  engaged  in  interstate  commerce. 

We  believe  in  an  immediate  return  to  the  free-homestead  policy 
of  the  Republican  party,  and  urge  the  passage  by  Congress  of  a  sat- 
isfactory free-homestead  measure  such  as  has  already  passed  the 
House,  and  is  now  pending  in  the  Senate. 

We  favor  the  admission  of  the  remaining  Territories  at  the  earliest 
practicable  date,  having  due  regard  to  the  interests  of  the  people  of 
the  Territories  and  of  the  United  States.  All  the  Federal  officers 
appointed  for  the  Territories  should  be  selected  from  bona  fide  resi- 
dents thereof,  and  the  right  of  self-government  should  be  accorded 
as  far  as  practicable. 

370 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

We  believe  the  citizens  of  Alaska  should  have  representation  in 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  to  the  end  that  needful  legisla- 
tion may  be  intelligently  enacted. 

We  sympathise  with  all  wise  and  legitimate  efforts  to  lessen  and 
prevent  the  evils  of  intemperance  and  promote  morality. 

The  Republican  party  is  mindful  of  the  rights  and  interests  of 
women.  Protection  of  American  industries  includes  equal  opportu- 
nities, equal  pay  for  equal  work,  and  protection  to  the  home.  We 
favor  the  admission  of  women  to  wider  spheres  of  usefulness,  and 
welcome  their  co-operation  in  rescuing  the  country  from  Democratic 
and  Populist  mismanagement  and  misrule. 

Such  are  the  principles  and  policies  of  the  Republican  party.  By 
these  principles  we  will  abide  and  these  policies  we  will  put  into 
execution.  We  ask  for  them  the  considerate  judgment  of  the 
American  people.  Confident  alike  in  the  history  of  our  great  party 
and  in  the  justice  of  our  cause,  we  present  our  platform  and  our 
candidates  in  the  full  assurance  that  the  election  will  bring  victory 
to  the  Republican  party  and  prosperity  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States. 

The  Democratic  National  Convention  met  at  Chicago  on 
the  7th  of  July,  and  the  emphatic  deliverance  of  the  Repub- 
lican convention  in  favor  of  the  gold  standard  greatly 
strengthened  the  free-silver  Democratic  elemefi£>  but  the 
sound-money  Democrats  had  control  of  the  natioHal  commit- 
tee, with  William  F.  Harrity,  chairman,  whose  duty  it  was 
to  call  the  convention  to  order.  Earnest  efforts  were  made 
to  harmonize  the  party  in  the  organization,  but  the  Free 
Silverites  were  aggressive  from  the  start,  and  when  the 
national  committee  named  Senator  Hill,  of  New  York,  as 
temporary  chairman,  a  bitter  debate  was  precipitated,  and 
Senator  Daniel,  of  Virginia,  an  out-and-out  Free  Silverite, 
was  elected  by  556  to  349.  On  the  second  day  the  report  of 
the  committee  on  credentials  strengthened  the  free-silver 
wing  by  the  admission  of  the  Bryan  delegation  from  Ne- 
braska, and  four  sound-money  Democrats  were  rejected  from 
Michigan,  and  their  places  given  to  free-silver  delegates. 
Senator  White,  of  California,  was  made  permanent  president. 
The  platform  was  adopted,  as  is  usual,  before  the  nomination 
for  President,  and  it  was  in  the  protracted  and  intensely 
bitter  debate  of  the  money  question  that  brought  out  the 
eloquent  and  dramatic  address  of  William  J.  Bryan,  that 
carried  him  into  the  Democratic  nomination  with  a  tidal 
wave. 

A  sound  financial  plank  was  offered  by  the  minority,  but 
rejected  by  626  to  303.  Another  resolution,  declaring,  "  We 
commend  the  honesty,  economy,  courage,  and  fidelity  of  the 

371 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

present  Democratic  (Cleveland)  administration,"  was  greeted 
with  a  yell  of  derision  and  rejected  by  564  to  357.  Senator 
Hill  offered  two  amendments  to  temper  the  repudiation 
plank,  but  they  were  rejected  without  a  division.  The 
platform  was  then  adopted  by  628  to  301.  The  sound-money 
Democrats  found  themselves  in  a  helpless  and  hopeless 
minority.  Many  of  them  desired  to  withdraw  from  the 
convention,  but  the  more  considerate  refused  to  do  so,  and 
all  of  them  remained,  178  of  them  refusing  to  vote  on  the 
ist  ballot  for  President.  Chairman  Harrity,  of  the  national 
committee,  with  his  delegation  participated  in  all  the  ballots 
and  steadily  voted  for  ex-Governor  Pattison.  Five  ballots 
were  had  for  President,  with  Bryan  starting  at  119  to  235 
for  Bland,  of  Missouri,  who  was  the  father  of  the  silver 
dollar,  and  should  have  been  accepted  as  the  logical  candidate 
of  the  free-silver  party,  but  Bryan's  "  crown  of  thorns"  had 
captured  the  convention,  and  he  won  an  easy  victory.  The 
following  table  gives  the  five  ballots  for  President  in  detail : 


to 

c 

£ 

Second. 

i 
ft 

e- 

Fourth. 

i 

£ 

Whole  number  of  votes  

752 
502 
119 
235 
95 
85 
88 
54 
37 
17 
8 
8 
7 
2 
1 
1 

178 

768 
512 
190 
283 
100 
41 
41 
53 
33 

8 
8 
10 

1 
162 

768 
512 
219 
291 
97 
36 
27 
54 
34 

~9 

1 
162 

769 
513 
280 
241 
97 
33 
27 
46 
36 

8 

1 
162 

768 
512 
500 
106 
95 
26 

31 

8 

1 

1 
162 

Necessary  for  a  choice  (two-thirds).  .  . 
William  J.  Bryan,  Nebraska  

Richard  P.  Bland,  Missouri  

Robert  E.  Pattison  Pennsylvania 

Horace  Boies,  Iowa  

Joseph  S.  C.  Blackburn,  Kentucky  
John  R.  McLean  Ohio 

Claude  Matthews,  Indiana  .  .          

Benjamin  R.  Tillman,  South  Carolina  .  . 
Sylvester  Pennoyer,  Oregon  

Henry  M.  Teller,  Colorado                  .  .   . 

Adlai  E.  Stevenson,  Illinois  

William  E.Russell,  Massachusetts  
James  E  Campbell   Ohio 

David  B.  Hill,  New  York  

David  Turpie,  Indiana                         

Not  voting    . 

On  the  5th  ballot  Bryan  was  only  12  votes  short  of  the 
necessary  two-thirds,  and  immediately  after  the  roll-call  was 
completed,  and  before  the  vote  had  been  given,  78  delegates 
changed  their  votes  from  other  candidates  to  Bryan,  giving 
him  the  nomination.  The  convention  received  the  result 
with  the  wildest  cheers  for  Bryan,  mingled  with  some  hisses 
and  general  sullen  silence  among  the  sound-money  Demo- 
crats. 


372 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


There  was  a  spirited  contest  for  the  Vice-Presidency,  in 
which  John  R.  McLean,  of  Ohio,  was  well  to  the  front,  and 
led  all  others  on  the  4th  ballot,  but  on  the  5th  a  whirl  was 
made  to  Sewall,  of  Maine,  giving  him  the  nomination.  The 
following  table  gives  the  ballot  in  detail : 


i 

£ 

•o 

g 

1 

Fourth. 

.a 

£ 

Whole  number  of  votes  

670 

675 

675 

677 

679 

Necessary  for  a  choice  (two-thirds) 

447 

450 

450 

452 

453 

Arthur  Sewall  Maine 

100 

37 

97 

261 

568 

Joseph  C  Sibley,  Pennsylvania  

163 

113 

50 

John  R  McLean   Ohio 

111 

158 

210 

296 

32 

George  F.  Williams,  Massachusetts  
Richard  P  Bland   Missouri 

76 
62 

16 
294 

15 
255 

9 

9 

Walter  A.  Clark,  North  Carolina  

50 

22 

22 

46 

22 

John  R  Williams   Illinois  

22 

13 

William  F.  Harrity  ,  Pennsylvania  
Horace  Boies,  Iowa        

21 
20 

21 

19 

11 

11 

Joseph  S  C  Blackburn  Kentucky 

20 



John  W   Daniel,  Virginia  

11 

1 

6 

54 

36 

James  H   Lewis  Washington  . 

H 

Robert  E   Pattison   Pennsylvania  

1 

1 

1 

1 

Henry  M  Teller  Colorado        

1 

Stephen  M  White  California 

1 

George  W    Fithian,  Illinois  

1 

260 

255 

255 

253 

251 

The  following  is  the  full  text  of  the  Democratic  platform : 

We,  the  Democrats  of  the  United  States,  in  national  convention 
assembled,  do  reaffirm  our  allegiance  to  those  great  essential  prin- 
ciples of  justice  and  liberty,  upon  which  our  institutions  are  founded, 
and  which  the  Democratic  party  has  advocated  from  Jefferson's 
time  to  our  own — freedom  of  speech,  freedom  of  the  press,  free- 
dom of  conscience,  the  preservation  of  personal  rights,  the  equality 
of  all  citizens  before  the  law,  and  the  faithful  observance  of  constitu- 
tional limitations. 

During  all  these  years  the  Democratic  party  has  resisted  the  ten- 
dency of  selfish  interests  to  the  centralization  of  governmental  power, 
and  steadfastly  maintained  the  integrity  of  the  dual  scheme  of  gov- 
ernment established  by  the  founders  of  this  republic  of  republics. 
Under  its  guidance  and  teachings,  the  great  principle  of  local  self- 
government  has  found  its  best  expression  in  the  maintenance  of  the 
rights  of  the  States,  and  in  its  assertion  of  the  necessity  of  confin- 
ing the  General  Government  to  the  exercise  of  the  powers  granted  by 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  guarantees  to  every  citizen 
the  rights  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  The  Democratic  party  has 
always  been  the  exponent  of  political  liberty  and  religious  freedom, 
and  it  renews  its  obligations  and  reaffirms  its  devotion  to  these 
fundamental  principles  of  the  Constitution. 

373 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Recognizing  that  the  money  question  is  paramount  to  all  others 
at  this  time,  we  invite  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution names  silver  and  gold  together  as  the  money  metals  of 
the  United  States,  and  that  the  first  coinage  law  passed  by  Congress 
under  the  Constitution  made  the  silver  dollar  the  money  unit,  and 
admitted  gold  to  free  coinage  at  a  ratio  based  upon  the  silver  dollar 
unit. 

We  declare  that  the  act  of  1873  demonetizing  silver  without  the 
knowledge  or  approval  of  the  American  people  has  resulted  in  the 
appreciation  of  gold  and  a  corresponding  fall  in  the  prices  of  com- 
modities produced  by  the  people ;  a  heavy  increase  in  the  burden 
of  taxation  and  of  all  debts,  public  and  private;  the  enrichment  of 
the  money-lending  class  at  home  and  abroad;  the  prostration  of  in- 
dustry and  impoverishment  of  the  people. 

We  are  unalterably  opposed  to  monometallism,  which  has  locked 
fast  the  prosperity  of  an  industrial  people  in  the  paralysis  of  hard 
times.  Gold  monometallism  is  a  British  policy,  and  its  adoption 
has  brought  other  nations  into  financial  servitude  to  London.  It  is 
not  only  un-American,  but  anti-American,  and  it  can  be  fastened 
on  the  United  States  only  by  the  stifling  of  that  spirit  and  love  of 
liberty  which  proclaimed  our  political  independence  in  1776  and  won 
it  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution. 

We  demand  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  both  silver  and 
gold  at  the  present  legal  ratio  of  sixteen  to  one  without  waiting  for 
the  aid  or  consent  of  any  other  nation.  We  demand  that  the  stan- 
dard silver  dollar  shall  be  a  full  legal  tender,  equally  with  gold,  for 
all  debts,  public  and  private,  and  we  favor  such  legislation  as  will 
prevent  for  the  future  the  demonetization  of  any  kind  of  legal  tender 
money  by  private  contract. 

We  are  opposed  to  the  policy  and  practice  of  surrendering  to  the 
holders  of  the  obligations  of  the  United  States  the  option  reserved 
by  law  to  the  Government  of  redeeming  such  obligations  in  either  sil- 
ver coin  or  gold  coin. 

We  are  opposed  to  the  issuing  of  interest-bearing  bonds  of  the 
United  States  in  time  of  peace,  and  condemn  the  trafficking  with 
banking  syndicates,  which,  in  exchange  for  bonds  and  at  enormous 
profit  to  themselves,  supply  the  Federal  Treasury  with  gold  to  main- 
tain the  policy  of  gold  monometallism. 

Congress  alone  has  the  power  to  coin  and  issue  money,  and 
President  Jackson  declared  that  this  power  could  not  be  delegated 
to  corporations  or  individuals.  We  therefore  denounce  the  issuance 
of  notes  intended  to  circulate  as  money  by  national  banks  as  in 
derogation  of  the  Constitution,  and  we  demand  that  all  paper  which 
is  made  a  legal  tender  for  public  and  private  debts,  or  which  is 
receivable  for  duties  to  the  United  States,  shall  be  issued  by  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  and  shall  be  redeemable  in  coin. 

We  hold  that  tariff  duties  should  be  levied  for  purposes  of  reve- 
nue, such  duties  to  be  so  adjusted  as  to  operate  equally  through- 
out the  country,  and  not  discriminate  between  class  or  section,  and 
that  taxation  should  be  limited  by  the  needs  of  the  Government 
honestly  and  economically  administered. 

We  denounce  as  disturbing  to  business  the  Republican  threat  to 
restore  the  McKinley  law,  which  has  twice  been  condemned  by  the 
people  in  national  elections,  and  which,  enacted  under  the  false  plea 

374 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

of  protection  to  home  industry,  proved  a  prolific  breeder  of  trusts 
and  monopolies,  enriched  the  few  at  the  expense  of  the  many,  re- 
stricted trade,  and  deprived  the  producers  of  the  great  American 
staples  of  access  to  their  natural  markets. 

Until  the  money  question  is  settled  we  are  opposed  to  any  agita- 
tion for  further  changes  in  our  tariff  laws,  except  such  as  are 
necessary  to  meet  the  deficit  in  revenue  caused  by  the  adverse  de- 
cision of  the  Supreme  Court  on  the  income  tax.  But  for  this  de- 
cision by  the  Supreme  Court,  there  would  be  no  deficit  in  the  reve- 
nue under  the  law  passed  by  a  Democratic  Congress  in  strict  pursu- 
ance of  the  uniform  decisions  of  that  court  for  nearly  one  hundred 
years,  that  court  having  in  that  decision  sustained  constitutional  ob- 
jections to  its  enactment  which  had  previously  been  overruled  by 
the  ablest  judges  who  have  ever  sat  on  that  bench.  We  declare 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress  to  use  all  the  constitutional  power 
which  remains  after  that  decision,  or  which  may  come  from  its  re- 
versal by  the  court  as  it  may  hereafter  be  constituted,  so  that  the 
burdens  of  taxation  may  be  equally  and  impartially  laid,  to  the 
end  that  wealth  may  bear  its  due  proportion  of  the  expenses  of  the 
Government. 

We  hold  that  the  most  efficient  way  of  protecting  American  labor 
is  to  prevent  the  importation  of  foreign  pauper  labor  to  compete 
with  it  in  the  home  market,  and  that  the  value  of  the  home  market  to 
our  American  farmers  and  artisans  is  greatly  reduced  by  a  vicious 
monetary  system  which  depresses  the  prices  of  their  products  below 
the  cost  of  production,  and  thus  deprives  them  of  the  means  of  pur- 
chasing the  products  of  our  home  manufactories;  and,  as  labor 
creates  the  wealth  of  the  country,  we  demand  the  passage  of  such 
laws  as  may  be  necessary  to  protect  it  in  all  its  rights. 

We  are  in  favor  of  the  arbitration  of  differences  between  em- 
ployers engaged  in  interstate  commerce  and  their  employes,  and 
recommend  such  legislation  as  is  necessary  to  carry  out  this  prin- 
ciple. 

The  absorption  of  wealth  by  the  few,  the  consolidation  of  our 
leading  railroad  systems,  and  the  formation  of  trusts  and  pools  re- 
quire a  stricter  control  by  the  Federal  Government  of  those  arteries 
of  commerce.  We  demand  the  enlargement  of  the  powers  of  the 
interstate  commerce  commission,  and  such  restrictions  and  guar- 
antees in  the  control  of  railroads  as  will  protect  the  people  from 
robbery  and  oppression. 

We  denounce  the  profligate  waste  of  the  money  wrung  from  the 
people  by  oppressive  taxation  and  the  lavish  appropriations  of  recent 
Republican  Congresses,  which  have  kept  taxes  high,  while  the  labor 
that  pays  them  is  unemployed  and  the  products  of  the  people's  toil 
are  depressed  in  price  till  they  no  longer  repay  the  cost  of  produc- 
tion. We  demand  a  return  to  that  simplicity  and  economy  which 
befits  a  democratic  government  and  a  reduction  in  the  number  of 
useless  offices,  the  salaries  of  which  drain  the  substance  of  the 
people. 

We  denounce  arbitrary  interference  by  Federal  authorities  in 
local  affairs  as  a  violation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
and  a  crime  against  free  institutions,  and  we  especially  object  to 
government  by  injunction  as  a  new  and  highly  dangerous  form  of 
oppression  by  which  Folcrul  judges,  in  contempt  of  the  laws  of  the 

375 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

States  and  rights  of  citizens,  become  at  once  legislators,  judges,  and 
executioners ;  and  we  approve  the  bill  passed  at  the  last  session 
of  the  United  States  Senate,  and  now  pending  in  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, relative  to  contempts  in  Federal  courts  and  providing 
for  trials  by  jury  in  certain  cases  of  contempt. 

No  discrimination  should  be  indulged  in  by  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  in  favor  of  any  of  its  debtors.  We  approve  of 
the  refusal  of  the  Fifty-third  Congress  to  pass  the  Pacific  Railroad 
Funding  bill,  and  denounce  the  effort  of  the  present  Republican  Con- 
gress to  enact  a  similar  measure. 

Recognizing  the  just  claims  of  deserving  Union  soldiers,  we 
heartily  endorse  the  rule  of  the  present  Commissioner  of  Pensions, 
that  no  name  shall  be  arbitrarily  dropped  from  the  pension  roll ; 
and  the  fact  of  enlistment  and  service  should  be  deemed  conclusive 
evidence  against  disease  and  disability  before  enlistment. 

We  favor  the  admission  of  the  Territories  of  New  Mexico, 
Arizona,  and  Oklahoma  into  the  Union  as  States,  and  we  favor 
the  early  admission  of  all  the  Territories  having  the  necessary 
population  and  resources  to  entitle  them  to  statehood,  and,  while 
they  remain  Territories,  we  hold  that  the  officials  appointed  to  ad- 
minister the  government  of  any  Territory,  together  with  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia  and  Alaska,  should  be  bond  fide  residents  of  the 
Territory  or  district  in  which  the  duties  are  to  be  performed.  The 
Democratic  party  believes  in  home  rule,  and  that  all  public  lands 
of  the  United  States  should  be  appropriated  to  the  establishment 
of  free  homes  for  American  citizens. 

We  recommend  that  the  Territory  of  Alaska  be  granted  a  dele- 
gate in  Congress,  and  that  the  general  land  and  timber  laws  of 
the  United  States  be  extended  to  said  Territory. 

The  Monroe  Doctrine,  as  originally  declared  and  as  interpreted 
by  succeeding  Presidents,  is  a  permanent  part  of  the  foreign  policy 
of  the  United  States,  and  must  at  all  times  be  maintained. 

We  extend  our  sympathy  to  the  people  of  Cuba  in  their  heroic 
struggle  for  liberty  and  independence. 

We  are  opposed  to  life  tenure  in  the  public  service,  except  as 
provided  in  the  Constitution.  We  favor  appointments  based  upon 
merit,  fixed  terms  of  office,  and  such  an  administration  of  the  civil 
service  laws  as  will  afford  equal  opportunities  to  all  citizens  of  ascer- 
tained fitness. 

We  declare  it  to  be  the  unwritten  law  of  this  Republic,  estab- 
lished by  custom  and  usage  of  a  hundred  years,  and  sanctioned  by 
the  examples  of  the  greatest  and  wisest  of  those  who  founded  and 
have  maintained  our  Government,  that  no  man  should  be  eligible 
for  a  third  term  of  the  Presidential  office. 

The  Federal  Government  should  care  for  and  improve  the  Mis- 
sissippi River  and  other  great  waterways  of  the  Republic,  so  as  to 
secure  for  the  interior  States  easy  and  cheap  transportation  to  tide- 
water. When  any  waterway  of  the  Republic  is  of  sufficient  impor- 
tance to  demand  aid  of  the  Government,  such  aid  should  be  ex- 
tended upon  a  definite  plan  of  continuous  work  until  permanent  im- 
provement is  secured. 

Confiding  in  the  justice  of  our  cause  and  the  necessity  of  its 
success  at  the  polls,  we  submit  the  foregoing  declaration  of  prin- 
ciples and  purposes  to  the  considerate  judgment  of  the  American 

376 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

people.  We  invite  the  support  of  all  citizens  who  approve  them, 
and  who  desire  to  have  them  made  effective,  through  legislation, 
for  the  relief  of  the  people  and  the  restoration  of  the  country's 
prosperity. 

A  minority  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions,  consisting 
of  the  members  from  sixteen  States,  submitted  a  dissenting 
report,  expressing  their  inability  to  give  their  assent  to 
"  many  declarations"  of  the  platform.  "  Some  are  ill- 
considered  and  ambiguously  phrased,  while  others  are  ex- 
treme and  revolutionary  of  the  well-recognized  principles 
of  the  party."  They  offered  two  amendments,  the  first  a 
substitute  for  the  financial  plank,  as  follows : 

We  declare  our  belief  that  the  experiment  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States  alone  of  free  silver  coinage  and  a  change  in  the 
existing  standard  of  value,  independently  of  the  action  of  other 
great  nations,  would  not  only  imperil  our  finances,  but  would 
retard,  or  entirely  prevent,  the  establishment  of  international 
bimetallism,  to  which  the  efforts  of  the  Government  should  be 
steadily  directed. 

It  would  place  this  country  at  once  upon  a  silver  basis,  impair 
contracts,  disturb  business,  diminish  the  purchasing  power  of  the 
wages  of  labor,  and  inflict  irreparable  evils  upon  our  nation's  com- 
merce and  industry. 

Until  international  co-operation  among  leading  nations  for  the 
coinage  of  silver  can  be  secured,  we  favor  the  rigid  maintenance 
of  the  existing  gold  standard  as  essential  to  the  preservation  of  our 
national  credit,  the  redemption  of  our  public  pledges,  and  the  keep- 
ing inviolate  of  our  country's  honor. 

We  insist  that  all  our  paper  currency  shall  be  kept  at  a  parity 
with  gold.  The  Democratic  party  is  the  party  of  hard  money,  and 
is  opposed  to  legal  tender  paper  money  as  a  part  of  our  permanent 
financial  system,  and  we  therefore  favor  the  gradual  retirement 
and  cancellation  of  all  United  States  notes  and  treasury  notes,  under 
such  legislative  provisions  as  will  prevent  undue  contraction. 

We  demand  that  the  national  credit  shall  be  resolutely  maintained 
at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances. 

The  People's  party,  then  better  known  as  the  Populists, 
and  the  Free  Silver  party,  held  their  conventions  at  St.  Louis 
on  the  22d  of  July.  The  cheap-money  elements  were  divided 
into  two  extreme  factions,  with  a  third  that  was  known  as 
the  "  Middle-of-the-Road  "  men.  The  Populist  convention 
was  presided  over  by  Senator  Butler,  of  North  Carolina,  as 
temporary  chairman,  and  Senator  Allen,  of  Nebraska,  as 
permanent  president,  and  the  question  of  acting  with  the 
Democratic  party  in  support  of  the  Chicago  platform  and 
candidate  for  President,  was  settled  by  the  preliminary  mo- 

377 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

tion  to  proceed  to  the  nomination  of  a  candidate  for  Vice- 
President.  It  was  adopted  by  785  to  615.  That  meant  the 
nomination  of  Bryan,  but  the  rejection  of  Sewall.  A  single 
ballot  was  had  for  Vice-President,  resulting  as  follows : 

Thomas  E.  Watson,  Ga. .  .539%     II     Harry  Skinner,  N.  C 

Arthur  Sewall,  Maine 257>|          A.  L.  Mims,  Tenn 

Frank  Burkett,  Miss 190%     ||     Mann  Page,  Virginia 

Watson  lacked  over  100  of  the  majority,  but  a  sufficient 
number  of  delegates  promptly  changed  their  votes  to  make 
him  the  nominee.  After  nominating  the  candidate  for  Vice- 
President,  the  convention  proceeded  to  ballot  for  President, 
as  follows: 

William  J.  Bryan,  Neb 1,042    [I     Ignatius  Donnelly,  Minn 3 

S.  F.  Norton,  111 321          J.  S.  Coxey,  Ohio 1 

Eugene  B.  Debs,  Ind 8     || 

The  following  platform  was  adopted  after  three  minority 
reports  had  been  rejected : 

The  People's  party,  assembled  in  national  convention,  reaffirms 
its  allegiance  to  the  principles  declared  by  the  founders  of  the  Re- 
public, and  also  to  the  fundamental  principles  of  just  government 
as  enunciated  in  the  platform  of  the  party  in  1892. 

We  recognize  that  through  the  connivance  of  the  present  and 
preceding  administrations  the  country  has  reached  a  crisis  in  its 
national  life  as  predicted  in  our  declaration  four  years  ago,  and 
that  prompt  and  patriotic  action  is  the  supreme  duty  of  the  hour. 
We  realize  that  while  we  have  political  independence  our  financial 
and  industrial  independence  is  yet  to  be  attained  by  restoring  to 
our  country  the  constitutional  control  and  exercise  of  the  functions 
necessary  to  a  people's  government,  which  functions  have  been 
basely  surrendered  by  our  public  servants  to  corporate  monopolies. 
The  influence  of  European  money-changers  has  been  more  potent 
in  shaping  legislation  than  the  voice  of  the  American  people. 
Executive  power  and  patronage  have  been  used  to  corrupt  our 
Legislatures  and  defeat  the  will  of  the  people,  and  plutocracy  has 
been  enthroned  upon  the  ruins  of  democracy.  To  restore  the  Gov- 
ernment intended  by  the  fathers  and  for  the  welfare  and  prosperity 
of  this  and  future  generations,  we  demand  the  establishment  of  an 
economic  and  financial  system  which  shall  make  us  masters  of  our 
own  affairs,  and  independent  of  European  control,  by  the  adoption  of 
the  following  declaration  of  principles : 

I.  We  demand  a  national  money,  safe  and  sound,  issued  by  the 
General  Government  only,  without  the  intervention  of  banks  of 
issue,  to  be  a  full  legal  tender  for  all  debts,  public  and  private;  a 
just,  equitable,  and  efficient  means  of  distribution  direct  to  the 
people  and  through  the  lawful  disbursements  of  the  Government. 

378 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

2.  We  demand  the   free  and  unrestricted   coinage  of  silver  and 
gold  at  the  present  legal  ratio  of  sixteen  to  one,  without  waiting 
for  the  consent  of  foreign  nations. 

3.  We    demand    that    the    volume    of    circulating    medium    be 
speedily  increased  to  an  amount  sufficient  to  meet  the  demands  of 
business  and  population  and  to  restore  the  just  level  of  prices  of 
labor  and  production. 

4.  We  denounce  the  sale  of  bonds  and  the  increase  of  the  interest- 
bearing  debt  made  by  the  present  administration  as  unnecessary  and 
without  authority  of  law,  and  demand  that  no  more  bonds  be  issued 
except  by  specific  act  of  Congress. 

5.  We  demand  such  legislation  as  will  prevent  the  demonetiza- 
tion of  the  lawful  money  of  the  United  States  by  private  contract. 

6.  We  demand  that  the  Government,   in   payment  of  its   obliga- 
tions, shall  use  its  option  as  to  the  kind  of  lawful  money  in  which 
they  are  to  be  paid,  and  we  denounce  the  present  and  preceding 
administrations  for  surrendering  this  option  to  the  holders  of  Gov- 
ernment obligations. 

7.  We  demand  a  graduated  income  tax,  to  the  end  that  aggre- 
gated  wealth   shall   bear   its   just  proportion   of   taxation;    and   we 
regard   the   recent  decision  of  the   Supreme   Court  relative   to  the 
income  tax  law  as  a  misinterpretation  of  the  Constitution,  and  an 
invasion  of  the  rightful    powers    of    Congress  over  the  subject  of 
taxation. 

8.  We  demand  that  postal   savings  banks  be  established  by  the 
Government  for  the  safe  deposit  of  the  savings  of  the  people  and 
to  facilitate  exchange. 

9.  Transportation  being  a  means  of  exchange  and  a  public  neces- 
sity, Government  should  own  and  operate  the  railroads  in  the  in- 
terests of  the  people  and  on  a  non-partisan  basis,  to  the  end  that 
all  may  be  accorded  the  same  treatment  in  transportation,  and  that 
the  tyranny  and  political  power  now  exercised  by  the  great  rail- 
road corporations,   which  result  in  the  impairment,  if  not  the  de- 
struction, of  the  political  rights  and  personal  liberties  of  the  citizen, 
may  be  destroyed.    Such  ownership  is  to  be  accomplished  gradually, 
in  a  manner  consistent  with  sound  public  policy. 

10.  The  interest  of  the  United  States  in  the  public  highways,  built 
with  public  moneys,  and  the  proceeds  of  extensive  grants  of  land 
to  the  Pacific  railroads  should  never  be  alienated,  mortgaged,  or 
sold,  but  guarded  and  protected  for  the  general  welfare  as  provided 
by  the  laws  organizing  such  railroads.     The  foreclosure  of  existing 
liens  of  the  United   States  on  these  roads  should  at  once  follow 
default   in   the  payment   thereof  by   the   debtor-companies ;   and   at 
the  foreclosure  sales  of  said  roads  the  Government  shall  purchase 
the  same  if  it  become  necessary  to  protect  its  interests  therein,  or 
if  they  can  be  purchased  at  a  reasonable  price ;  and  the  Government 
shall  operate  said  railroads  as  public  highways  for  the  benefit  of  the 
whole  people,   and  not   in   the  interest  of  the  few,   under  suitable 
provisions  for  protection  of  life  and  property,  giving  to  all  trans- 
portation   interests    equal    privileges  and  equal  rates  for  fares  and 
freight. 

11.  We  denounce  the  present  infamous  schemes  for  refunding  these 
debts,  and  demand  that  the  laws  now  applicable  thereto  be  executed 
and  administered  according  to  their  true  intent  and  spirit. 

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OUR  PRESIDENTS 

12.  The  telegraph,  like  the  post-office  system,  being  a  necessity  for 
the   transmission  of  news,    should  be  owned  and  operated  by   the 
Government  in  the  interest  of  the  people. 

13.  The  true  policy  demands  that  national  and   State  legislation 
shall  be  such  as  will  ultimately  enable  every  prudent  and  industri- 
ous' citizen  to  secure  a  home,  and  therefore  the  lands  should  not 
be  monopolized   for  speculative  purposes.     All  lands  now  held  by 
railroads   and   other   corporations   in   excess   of   their   actual    needs 
should  by  lawful  means  be  reclaimed  by  the  Government  and  held 
for  actual  settlers  only,  and  subject  to  the  right  of  every  human 
being  to  acquire  a  home  upon  the  soil,  and  private  land  monopoly, 
as  well  as  alien  ownership,  should  be  prohibited. 

14.  We  condemn  the  frauds  by  which  the  land  grants  to  the  Pa- 
cific Railroad  companies  have,  through  the  connivance  of  the  Interior 
Department,  robbed  multitudes  of  actual  bond  fide  settlers  of  their 
homes  and  miners  of  their  claims,   and  we  demand   legislation  by 
Congress  which  will  enforce  the  exemption  of  mineral  land  from 
such  grants  after  as  well  as  before  the  patent. 

15.  We   demand   that   bond  fide   settlers  on   all   public  lands   be 
granted  free  homes  as  provided  in  the  National  Homestead  law,  and 
that  no  exception  be  made  in  the  case  of  Indian  reservations  when 
opened  for  settlement,  and  that  all  lands  not  now  patented  come 
under  this  demand. 

We  favor  a  system  of  direct  legislation  through  the  initiative  and 
referendum  under  proper  constitutional  safeguards. 

1.  We   demand   the   election     of     President,    Vice-President,    and 
United  States  Senators  by  a  direct  vote  of  the  people. 

2.  We  tender  to  the  patriotic  people  of  Cuba  our  deepest  sym- 
pathy in  their  heroic  struggle  for  political  freedom  and   independ- 
ence, and  we  believe  the  time  has  come  when  the  United  States,  the 
great  Republic  of  the  world,  should  recognize  that  Cuba  is  and  of 
right  out  to  be  a  free  and  independent  State. 

3.  We   favor  home   rule   in   the   Territories   and   the   District   of 
Columbia,  and  the  early  admission  of  Territories  as  States. 

4.  All  public  salaries  should  be  made  to  correspond  to  the  price 
of  labor  and  its  products. 

5.  In  times  of  great  industrial  depression,   idle  labor  should  be 
employed  on  public  works  as  far  as  practicable. 

6.  The   arbitrary  course   of  the   courts   in   assuming  to   imprison 
citizens  for  indirect  contempt,  and  ruling  by  injunction,  should  be 
prevented  by  proper  legislation. 

7.  We  favor  just  pensions  for  our  disabled  Union  soldiers. 

8.  Believing  that  the  elective  franchise  and  an  untrammelled  ballot 
are  essential  to  a  government  of,  for,  and  by  the  people,  the  People's 
party  condemn  the  wholesale   system  of  disfranchisement  adopted 
in  some  of  the  States  as  unrepublican  and  undemocratic,   and  we 
declare  it  to  be  the  duty  of  the  several   State  Legislatures  to  take 
such  action  as  will  secure  a  full,  free,  and  fair  ballot  and  an  honest 
count. 

9.  While  the  foregoing  propositions  constitute  the  platform  upon 
which  our  party  stands,  and  for  the  vindication  of  which  its  organ- 
ization will  be  maintained,  we  recognize  that  the  great  and  pressing 
issue  of  the  present  campaign  upon  which  the  present  Presidential 
election  will  turn  is  the  financial  question,  and  upon  this  great  and 

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AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

specific  issue  between  the  parties  we  cordially  invite  the  aid  and 
co-operation  of  all  organizations  and  citizens  agreeing  with  us  upon 
this  vital  question. 

The  National  Silver  party  held  its  convention  at  the  same 
time  and  place,  with  Frank  G.  Newlands,  of  Nevada,  as  tem- 
porary chairman,  and  William  P.  St.  John,  of  New  York,  as 
permanent  president.  No  time  during  the  proceedings  of 
the  convention  was  a  vote  had  to  indicate  the  number  of  dele- 
gates. William  J.  Bryan,  of  Nebraska,  was  nominated  for 
President,  and  Arthur  Sewall,  of  Maine,  for  Vice-President, 
both  by  acclamation.  The  following  platform  was  adopted : 

The  National  Silver  party  of  America,  in  convention  assembled, 
hereby  adopts  the  following  declaration  of  principles : 

First,  the  paramount  issue  at  this  time  in  the  United  States  is 
indisputably  the  money  question.  It  is  between  the  British  gold 
standard,  gold  bonds,  and  bank  currency  on  the  one  side,  and  the 
bimetallic  standard,  no  bonds,  Government  currency,  and  an  Ameri- 
can policy  on  the  other. 

On  this  issue  we  declare  ourselves  to  be  in  favor  of  a  distinctive 
American  financial  system.  We  are  unalterably  opposed  to  the  single 
gold  standard,  and  demand  the  immediate  return  to  the  constitu- 
tional standard  of  gold  and  silver,  by  the  restoration  by  this  Govern- 
ment, independently  of  any  foreign  power,  of  the  unrestricted  coin- 
age of  both  gold  and  silver  into  standard  money,  at  the  ratio  of 
sixteen  to  one,  and  upon  terms  of  exact  equality,  as  they  existed 
prior  to  1873  ;  the  silver  coin  to  be  of  full  legal  tender,  equally  with 
gold,  for  all  debts  and  dues,  public  and  private ;  and  we  demand 
such  legislation  as  will  prevent  for  the  future  the  destruction  of  the 
legal  tender  quality  of  any  kind  of  money  by  private  contract. 

We  hold  that  the  power  to  control  and  regulate  a  paper  currency 
is  inseparable  from  the  power  to  coin  money,  and  hence  that  all 
currency  intended  to  circulate  as  money  should  be  issued,  and  its 
volume  controlled,  by  the  General  Government  only,  and  should  be 
a  legal  tender. 

We  are  unalterably  opposed  to  the  issue  by  the  United  States  of 
interest-bearing  bonds  in  time  of  peace,  and  we  denounce  as  a  blun- 
der worse  than  a  crime  the  present  treasury  policy,  concurred  in  by 
a  Republican  House  of  Representatives,  of  plunging  the  country 
into  debt  by  hundreds  of  millions  in  the  vain  attempt  to  maintain 
the  gold  standard  by  borrowing  gold;  and  we  demand  the  payment 
of  all  coin  obligations  of  the  United  States  as  provided  by  existing 
laws,  in  either  gold  or  silver  coin,  at  the  option  of  the  Government, 
and  not  at  the  option  of  the  creditor. 

The  demonetization  of  silver  in  1873  enormously  increased  the 
demand  for  gold,  enhancing  its  purchasing  power  and  lowering 
all  prices  measured  by  that  standard;  and,  since  that  unjust  and 
indefensible  act,  the  prices  of  American  products  have  fallen,  upon 
an  average,  nearly  fifty  per  cent.,  carrying  down  with  them  pro- 
portionately the  money  value  of  all  other  forms  of  property. 

381 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Such  fall  of  prices  has  destroyed  the  profits  of  legitimate  indus- 
try, injuring  the  producer  for  the  benefit  of  the  non-producer;  in- 
creasing the  burden  of  the  debtor,  swelling  the  gains  of  the  creditor, 
paralyzing  the  productive  energies  of  the  American  people,  relegat- 
ing to  idleness  vast  numbers  of  willing  workers,  sending  the  shad- 
ows of  despair  into  the  home  of  the  honest  toiler,  filling  the  land 
with  tramps  and  paupers,  and  building  up  colossal  fortunes  at  the 
money  centres. 

In  the  effort  to  maintain  the  gold  standard,  the  country  has,  within 
the  last  two  years,  in  a  time  of  profound  peace  and  plenty,  been 
loaded  down  with  $262,000,000  of  additional  interest-bearing  debt 
under  such  circumstances  as  to  allow  a  syndicate  of  native  and  for- 
eign bankers  to  realize  a  net  profit  of  millions  on  a  single  deal. 

It  stands  confessed  that  the  gold  standard  can  be  only  upheld  by 
so  depleting  our  paper  currency  as  to  force  the  prices  of  our  prod- 
ucts below  the  European,  and  even  below  the  Asiatic,  level  to  enable 
us  to  sell  in  foreign  markets,  thus  aggravating  the  very  evils  of 
whieh  our  people  so  bitterly  complain,  degrading  American  labor  and 
striking  at  the  foundations  of  our  civilization  itself. 

The  advocates  of  the  gold  standard  persistently  claim  that  the  real 
cause  of  our  distress  is  overproduction — that  we  have  produced  so 
much  that  it  made  us  poor — which  implies  that  the  true  remedy  is 
to  close  the  factory,  abandon  the  farm,  and  throw  a  multitude  of 
people  out  of  employment — a  doctrine  that  leaves  us  unnerved  and 
disheartened,  and  absolutely  without  hope  for  the  future. 

We  affirm  it  to  be  unquestioned  that  there  can  be  no  such  economic 
paradox  as  overproduction,  and  at  the  same  time  tens  of  thousands 
of  our  fellow-citizens  remaining  half  clothed  and  half  fed,  and  pit- 
eously  clamoring  for  the  common  necessities  of  life. 

Over  and  above  all  other  questions  of  policy,  we  are  in  favor  of 
restoring  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  the  time-honored  money 
of  the  Constitution — gold  and  silver,  not  one,  but  both — the  money 
of  Washington  and  Hamilton  and  Jefferson  and  Monroe  and  Jack- 
son and  Lincoln,  to  the  end  that  the  American  people  may  receive 
honest  pay  for  an  honest  product ;  that  the  American  debtor  may  pay 
his  just  obligations  in  an  honest  standard,  and  not  in  a  dishonest  and 
unsound  standard,  appreciated  one  hundred  per  cent,  in  purchasing 
power,  and  no  appreciation  in-  debt-paying  power ;  and  to  the  end, 
further,  that  silver  standard  countries  may  be  deprived  of  the  unjust 
advantage  they  now  enjoy,  in  the  difference  in  exchange  between 
gold  and  silver,  an  advantage  which  tariff  legislation  cannot  over- 
come. 

We,  therefore,  confidently  appeal  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States  to  hold  in  abeyance  all  other  questions,  however  important 
and  even  momentous  they  may  appear,  to  sunder,  if  need  be,  all  for- 
mer party  ties  and  affiliations,  and  unite  in  one  supreme  effort  to 
free  themselves  and  their  children  from  the  domination  of  the  money 
power — a  power  more  destructive  than  any  which  has  ever  been 
fastened  upon  the  civilized  men  of  any  race  or  in  any  age.  And 
upon  the  consummation  of  our  desires  and  efforts  we  invoke  the 
aid  of  all  patriotic  American  citizens,  and  the  gracious  favor  of 
Divine  Providence. 

The   sound-money   Democrats   of   the   country   called   a 

382 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

national  convention  that  met  at  Indianapolis  on  the  2d  of 
September,  and  adopted  the  title  of  the  National  Democratic 
party.  Governor  Flower,  of  New  York,  was  temporary 
chairman,  and  Senator  Caffery,  of  Louisiana,  was  perma- 
nent president.  General  John  M.  Palmer,  of  Illinois,  was 
nominated  for  President  on  the  ist  ballot,  receiving  760/1 
votes  to  ii8J  votes  for  General  Edward  S.  Bragg,  of  Wis- 
consin. General  Simon  B.  Buckner,  of  Kentucky,  was  nomi- 
nated for  Vice-President  by  acclamation.  The  following 
platform  was  unanimously  adopted  : 

This  convention  has  assembled  to  uphold  the  principles  on  which 
depend  the  honor  and  welfare  of  the  American  people,  in  order  that 
Democrats  throughout  the  Union  may  unite  their  patriotic  efforts 
to  avert  disaster  from  their  country  and  ruin  from  their  party. 

The  Democratic  party  is  pledged  to  equal  and  exact  justice  to  all 
men,  of  every  creed  and  condition ;  to  the  largest  freedom  of  the 
individual  consistent  with  good  government ;  to  the  preservation  of 
the  Federal  Government  in  its  constitutional  vigor,  and  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  States  in  all  their  just  rights;  to  economy  in  the  public 
expenditures;  to  the  maintenance  of  the  public  faith  and  sound 
money;  and  it  is  opposed  to  paternalism  and  all  class  legislation. 

The  declarations  of  the  Chicago  convention  attack  individual 
freedom,  the  right  of  private  contract,  the  independence  of  the  judi- 
ciary, and  the  authority  of  the  President  to  enforce  Federal  laws. 
They  advocate  a  reckless  attempt  to  increase  the  price  of  silver  by 
legislation,  to  the  debasement  of  our  monetary  standard,  and  threaten 
unlimited  issues  of  paper  money  by  the  Government.  They  abandon 
for  Republican  allies  the  Democratic  cause  of  tariff  reform,  to  court 
the  favor  of  protectionists  to  their  fiscal  heresy. 

In  view  of  these  and  other  grave  departures  from  Democratic  prin- 
ciples, we  cannot  support  the  candidates  of  that  convention  nor  be 
bound  by  its  acts. 

The  Democratic  party  has  survived  defeats,  but  could  not  survive 
a  victory  won  in  behalf  of  the  doctrine  and  policy  proclaimed  in  its 
name  at  Chicago. 

The  conditions,  however,  which  make  possible  such  utterances 
from  a  national  convention  are  the  direct  result  of  class  legislation 
by  the  Republican  party.  It  still  proclaims,  as  it  has  for  years,  the 
power  and  duty  of  Government  to  raise  and  maintain  prices  by  law, 
and  it  proposes  no  remedy  for  existing  evils,  except  oppressive  and 
unjust  taxation. 

The  National  Democracy  here  convened  therefore  renews  its  decla- 
ration of  faith  in  Democratic  principles,  especially  as  applicable  to 
the  conditions  of  the  times.  Taxation — tariff,  excise,  or  direct — is 
rightfully  imposed  only  for  public  purposes,  and  not  for  private 
gain.  Its  amount  is  justly  measured  by  public  expenditures,  which 
should  be  limited  by  scrupulous  economy.  The  sum  derived  by  the 
Treasury  from  tariff  and  excise  levies  is  affected  by  the  state  of  trade 
and  volume  of  consumption.  The  amount  required  by  the  Treas- 
ury is  determined  by  the  appropriations  made  by  Congress.  The 

*  383 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

demand  of  the  Republican  party  for  an  increase  in  tariff  taxation 
has  its  pretext  in  the  deficiency  of  revenue,  which  has  its  causes  in 
the  stagnation  of  trade  and  reduced  consumption,  due  entirely  to  the 
loss  of  confidence  that  has  followed  the  Populist  threat  of  free  coin- 
age and  depreciation  of  our  money,  and  the  Republican  practice 
of  extravagant  appropriations  beyond  the  needs  of  good  government. 

We  arraign  and  condemn  the  Populist  conventions  of  Chicago 
and  St.  Louis  for  their  co-operation  with  the  Republican  party  in 
creating  these  conditions,  which  are  pleaded  in  justification  of  a 
heavy  increase  of  the  burdens  of  the  people  by  a  further  resort  to 
protection.  We  therefore  denounce  protection  and  its  ally,  free 
coinage  of  silver,  as  schemes  for  the  personal  profit  of  a  few  at  the 
expense  of  the  masses,  and  oppose  the  two  parties  which  stand  for 
these  schemes  as  hostile  to  the  people  of  the  Republic,  whose  food 
and  shelter,  comfort  and  prosperity,  are  attacked  by  higher  taxes 
and  depreciated  money.  In  fine,  we  reaffirm  the  historic  Democratic 
doctrine  of  tariff  for  revenue  only. 

We  demand  that  henceforth  modern  and  liberal  policies  toward 
American  shipping  shall  take  the  place  of  our  imitation  of  the 
restricted  statutes  of  the  eighteenth  century,  which  were  long  ago 
abandoned  by  every  maritime  power  but  the  United  States,  and 
which,  to  the  nation's  humiliation,  have  driven  American  capital 
and  enterprise  to  the  use  of  alien  flags  and  alien  crews,  have  made 
the  Stars  and  Stripes  almost  an  unknown  emblem  in  foreign  ports, 
and  have  virtually  extinguished  the  race  of  American  seamen.  We 
oppose  the  pretence  that  discriminating  duties  will  promote  snipping ; 
that  scheme  is  an  invitation  to  commercial  warfare  upon  the  United 
States,  un-American  in  the  light  of  our  great  commercial  treaties, 
offering  no  gain  whatever  to  American  shipping,  while  greatly  in- 
creasing ocean  freights  on  our  agricultural  and  manufactured 
products. 

The  experience  of  mankind  has  shown  that,  by  reason  of  their 
natural  qualities,  gold  is  the  necessary  money  of  the  large  affairs  of 
commerce  and  business,  while  silver  is  conveniently  adapted  to  minor 
transactions,  and  the  most  beneficial  use  of  both  together  can  be 
insured  only  by  the  adoption  of  the  former  as  a  standard  of  mone- 
tary measure,  and  the  maintenance  of  silver  at  a  parity  with  gold 
by  its  limited  coinage  under  suitable  safeguards  of  law.  Thus  the 
largest  possible  enjoyment  of  both  metals  is  gained  with  a  value 
universally  accepted  throughout  the  world,  which  constitutes  the 
only  practical  bimetallic  currency,  assuring  the  most  stable  standard, 
and  especially  the  best  and  safest  money  for  all  who  earn  their  live- 
lihood by  labor  or  the  produce  of  husbandry.  They  cannot  suffer 
when  paid  in  the  best  money  known  to  man,  but  are  the  peculiar  and 
most  defenceless  victims  of  a  debased  and  fluctuating  currency, 
which  offers  continual  profits  to  the  money-changer  at  their  cost. 

Realizing  these  truths,  demonstrated  by  long  and  public  incon- 
venience and  loss,  the  Democratic  party,  in  the  interests  of  the  masses 
and  of  equal  justice  to  all,  practically  established  by  the  legislation 
of  1834  and  1853  the  gold  standard  of  monetary  measurement,  and 
likewise  entirely  divorced  the  Government  from  banking  and  cur- 
rency issues.  To  this  long-established  Democratic  policy  we  adhere, 
and  insist  upon  the  maintenance  of  the  gold  standard,  and  of  the 
parity  therewith  of  every  dollar  issued  by  the  Government,  and  are 

384' 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

firmly  opposed  to  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver  and  to  the 
compulsory  purchase  of  silver  bullion.  But  we  denounce  also  the 
further  maintenance  of  the  present  costly  patchwork  system  of 
national  paper  currency  as  a  constant  source  of  injury  and  peril. 
We  assert  the  necessity  of  such  intelligent  currency  reform  as  will 
confine  the  Government  to  its  legitimate  functions,  completely  sepa- 
rated from  the  banking  business,  and  afford  to  all  sections  of  our 
country  uniform,  safe,  and  elastic  bank  currency  under  governmental 
supervision,  measured  in  volume  by  the  needs  of  business. 

The  fidelity,  patriotism,  and  courage  with  which  President  Cleve- 
land has  fulfilled  his  great  public  trust,  the  high  character  of  his 
administration,  its  wisdom  and  energy^  in  the  maintenance  of  civil 
order  and  the  enforcement  of  the  laws,  its  equal  regard  for  the  rights 
of  every  class  and  every  section,  its  firm  and  dignified  conduct  of  for- 
eign affairs,  and  its  sturdy  persistence  in  upholding  the  credit  and 
honor  of  the  nation,  are  fully  recognized  by  the  Democratic  party, 
and  will  secure  to  him  a  place  in  history  beside  the  fathers  of  the 
Republic. 

We  also  commend  the  administration  for  the  great  progress  made 
in  the  reform  of  the  public  service,  and  we  endorse  its  effort  to 
extend  the  merit  system  still  further.  We  demand  that  no  back- 
ward step  be  taken,  but  that  the  reform  be  supported  and  advanced 
until  the  un-Democratic  spoils  system  of  appointments  shall  be  erad- 
icated. 

We  demand  strict  economy  in  the  appropriations  and  in  the  admin- 
istration of  the  Government. 

We  favor  arbitration  for  the  settlement  of  international  disputes. 

We  favor  a  liberal  policy  of  pensions  to  deserving  soldiers  and 
sailors  of  the  United  States. 

The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  was  wisely  established 
by  the  framers  of  our  Constitution  as  one  of  the  three  co-ordinate 
branches  of  the  Government.  Its  independence  and  authority  to 
interpret  the  law  of  the  land  without  fear  or  favor  must  be  main- 
tained. We  condemn  all  efforts  to  degrade  that  tribunal  or  impair 
the  confidence  and  respect  which  it  has  deservedly  held. 

The  Democratic  party  ever  has  maintained,  and  ever  will  main- 
tain, the  supremacy  of  law,  the  independence  of  its  judicial  adminis- 
tration, the  inviolability  of  contracts,  and  the  obligations  of  all  good 
citizens  to  resist  every  illegal  trust,  combination,  or  attempt  against 
the  just  rights  of  property  and  the  good  order  of  society,  in  which 
are  bound  up  the  peace  and  happiness  of  our  people. 

Believing  these  principles  to  be  essential  to  the  well-being  of  the 
Republic,  we  submit  them  to  the  consideration  of  the  American 
people. 

The  National  Prohibition  party  held  its  national  conven- 
tion at  Pittsburg  on  the  2/th  of  May.  A.  A.  Stevens,  of 
Pennsylvania,  was  temporary  chairman,  and  Oliver  W. 
Stewart,  of  Illinois,  permanent  president.  The  delibera- 
tions of  the  convention  were  seriously  disturbed  by  the  free- 
silver  issue,  and  the  opposing  factions  known  as  the  "  Nar- 
row-Gaugers"  and  the  "Broad-Gaugers,"  the  latter  being 

385 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

favorable  to  a  general  platform  covering  free  coinage  and  all 
other  national  questions,  while  the  former  wanted  the  issue 
confined  to  the  liquor  question.  The  majority  and  minority 
reports  were  made  on  the  platform,  and  the  convention 
decided  to  bring  both  reports  before  the  body  and  pass  upon 
them  seriatim.  It  was  finally  decided  by  a  vote  of  427  to  387 
to  reject  the  free-coinage  plank,  and  the  "  Narrow-Gaugers  " 
then  adopted  their  own  platform  as  follows : 

We,  the  members  of  the  Prohibition  party,  in  national  conven- 
tion assembled,  renewing  our  declaration  of  allegiance  to  Almighty 
God  as  the  rightful  Ruler  of  the  universe,  lay  down  the  following 
as  our  declaration  of  political  purpose: 

The  Prohibition  party,  in  national  convention  assembled,  declares 
its  firm  conviction  that  the  manufacture,  exportation,  importation, 
and  sale  of  alcoholic  beverages  has  produced  such  social,  commer- 
cial, industrial,  and  political  wrongs,  and  is  now  so  threatening  the 
perpetuity  of  all  our  social  and  political  institutions,  that  the  sup- 
pression of  the  same,  by  a  national  party  organized  therefor,  is 
the  greatest  object  to  be  accomplished  by  the  voters  of  our  country, 
and  is  of  such  importance  that  it  of  right  ought  to  control  the 
political  actions  of  all  our  patriotic  citizens  until  such  suppression  is 
accomplished. 

The  urgency  of  this  course  demands  the  union,  without  further 
delay,  of  all  citizens  who  desire  the  prohibition  of  the  liquor  traffic ; 
therefore  be  it 

Resolved,  That  we  favor  the  legal  prohibition  by  State  and  na- 
tional legislation  of  the  manufacture,  importation,  and  sale  of  alco- 
holic beverages.  That  we  declare  our  purpose  to  organize  and  unite 
all  the  friends  of  prohibition  into  one  party,  and  in  order  to  ac- 
complish this  end  we  deem  it  of  right  to  leave  every  Prohibitionist 
the  freedom  of  his  own  convictions  upon  all  other  political  ques- 
tions, and  trust  our  representatives  to  take  such  action  upon  other 
political  questions  as  the  changes  occasioned  by  prohibition  and 
the  welfare  of  the  whole  people  shall  demand. 

Resolved,  That  the  right  of  suffrage  ought  not  to  be  abridged  on 
account  of  sex. 

Immediately  after  the  adoption  of  the  platform,  the 
"Broad-Gaugers"  withdrew,  and  those  who  remained  nomi- 
nated Joshua  Levering,  of  Maryland,  for  President  by 
acclamation,  and  on  a  ballot  for  Vice-President,  Hale  John- 
son, of  Illinois,  was  chosen,  receiving  309  votes  to  132  for 
T.  C.  Hughes,  of  Arizona. 

The  seceders  from  the  Prohibition  convention  met  in 
Pittsburg  on  the  next  day,  May  28th,  with  A.  L.  Moore,  of 
Michigan,  as  chairman,  and  the  roll-call  showed  299  dele- 
gates present.  Rev.  Charles  E.  Bentley,  of  Nebraska,  was 
nominated  for  President,  and  James  A.  Southgate,  of  North 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

Carolina,  was  nominated   for  Vice-President,  both  by  ac- 
clamation.   The  following  platform  was  adopted : 

The  National  party,  recognizing  God  as  the  author  of  all  just 
power  in  government,  presents  the  following  declaration  of  prin- 
ciples, which  it  pledges  itself  to  enact  into  effective  legislation  when 
given  the  power  to  do  so : 

1.  The  suppression  of  the  manufacture  and  sale,  importation,  ex- 
portation,  and  transportation  of  intoxicating  liquors  for  beverage 
purposes.     We  utterly  reject  all  plans  for  regulating  or  compromis- 
ing with  this  traffic,  whether  such  plans  be  called  local  option,  taxa- 
tion, license,  or  public  control.     The  sale  of  liquors  for  medicinal 
and  other  legitimate  uses  should  be  conducted  by  the  State,  without 
profit,  and  with  such  regulations  as  will  prevent  fraud  or  evasion. 

2.  No  citizen  should  be  denied  the  right  to  vote  on  account  of 
sex. 

3.  All  money  should  be  issued  by  the  General  Government  only, 
and  without  the  intervention  of  any  private  citizen,  corporation,  or 
banking  institution.     It  should  be  based  upon  the  wealth,  stability, 
and  integrity  of  the  nation.     It  should  be  a  full  legal  tender  for  all 
debts,  public  and  private,  and  should  be  of  sufficient  volume  to  meet 
the  demands  of  the  legitimate  business  interests  of  the  country.    For 
the  purpose  of  honestly  liquidating  pur  outstanding  coin  obligations, 
we  favor  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  both  silver  and  gold,  at 
the  ratio  of  16  to  I,  without  consulting  any  other  nation. 

4.  Land  is  the  common  heritage  of  the  people  and  should  be  pre- 
served   from   monopoly   and   speculation.     All    unearned   grants   of 
land  subject  to  forfeiture  should  be  reclaimed  by  the  Government, 
and  no  portion  of  the  public  domain  should  hereafter  be  granted  ex- 
cept to  actual  settlers,  continuous  use  being  essential  to  tenure. 

5.  Railroads,  telegraphs,  and    other    natural    monopolies    should 
be  owned  and  operated  by  the  Government,  giving  to  the  people 
the  benefit  of  service  at  actual  cost. 

6.  The  national  Constitution  should  be  so  amended  as  to  allow  the 
national  revenues  to  be  raised  by  equitable  adjustment  of  taxation 
on  the  properties  and   incomes   of  the  people,   and   import   duties 
should  be  levied  as  a  means  of  securing  equitable  commercial  rela- 
tions with  other  nations. 

7.  The  contract  convict  labor  system,  through  which  speculators 
are  enriched  at  the  expense  of  the  State,  should  be  abolished. 

8.  All  citizens  should  be  protected  by  law  in  their  right  to  one 
day  of  rest  in  seven,  without  oppressing  any  who  conscientiously  ob- 
serve any  other  than  the  first  day  of  the  week. 

9.  The  American  public  schools,  taught  in  the  English  language, 
should  be  maintained,  and  no  public  funds  should  be  appropriated 
for  sectarian  institutions. 

10.  The   President,   Vice-President,   and  United   States   Senators 
should  be  elected  by  direct  vote  of  the  people. 

11.  Ex-soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  United  States  army  and  navy, 
their  widows  and  minor  children,  should  receive  liberal  pensions, 
graded  on  disability  and  term  of  service,  not  merely  as  a  debt  of 
gratitude,  but  for  service  rendered  in  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 

12.  Our  immigration   laws  should  be   so  revised  as  to  exclude 

387 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

paupers  and  criminals.  None  but  citizens  of  the  United  States 
should  be  allowed  to  vote  in  any  State,  and  naturalized  citizens 
should  not  vote  until  one  year  after  naturalization  papers  have  been 
issued. 

13.  The  initiative  and  referendum,  and  proportional  representation 
should  be  adopted. 

The  Socialist  Labor  party  held  a  national  convention  in 
New  York  on  the  4th  of  July,  and  gave  a  full  week  to  the 
deliberations  of  the  body,  which  were  devoted  almost  wholly 
to  disputation  as  to  the  policy  and  purposes  of  the  organiza- 
tion. The  attendance  was  limited,  as  Charles  H.  Matchett, 
of  New  York,  was  nominated  for  President  on  the  1st 
ballot,  receiving  43  votes  to  23  for  Matthew  Maguire,  of 
New  Jersey,  and  4  for  William  Watkins,  of  Ohio.  Matthew 
Maguire  was  then  nominated  for  Vice-President  by  acclama- 
tion. The  following  platform  was  adopted: 

The  Socialist  Labor  party  of  the  United  States,  in  convention 
assembled,  reasserts  the  inalienable  right  of  all  men  to  life,  lib- 
erty, and  the  pursuit  of  happiness. 

With  the  founders  of  the  American  Republic,  we  hold  that  the 
purpose  of  government  is  to  secure  every  citizen  in  the  enjoyment 
of  this  right;  but  in  the  light  of  our  social  conditions,  we  hold, 
furthermore,  that  no  such  right  can  be  exercised  under  a  system 
of  economic  inequality,  essentially  destructive  of  life,  of  liberty,  and 
of  happiness. 

With  the  founders  of  this  Republic,  we  hold  that  the  true  theory 
of  politics  is  that  the  machinery  of  government  must  be  owned 
and  controlled  by  the  whole  people;  but  in  the  light  of  our  indus- 
trial development  we  hold,  furthermore,  that  the  true  theory  of 
economics  is  that  the  machinery  of  production  must  likewise  belong 
to  the  people  in  common. 

To  the  obvious  fact,  that  our  despotic  system  of  economics  is  the 
direct  opposite  of  our  democratic  system  of  politics,  can  plainly  be 
traced  the  existence  of  a  privileged  class,  the  corruption  of  gov- 
ernment by  that  class,  the  alienation  of  public  property,  public  fran- 
chises, and  public  functions  to  that  class,  and  the  abject  dependence 
of  the  mightiest  nations  upon  that  class. 

Again,  through  the  perversion  of  Democracy  to  the  ends  of  plu- 
tocracy, labor  is  robbed  of  the  wealth  which  it  alone  produces,  is 
denied  the  means  of  self-employment,  and,  by  compulsory  idleness 
in  wage  slavery,  is  even  deprived  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  Human 
power  and  natural  forces  are  thus  wasted  that  the  plutocracy  may 
rule.  Ignorance  and  misery,  with  all  their  concomitant  evils,  are 
perpetuated,  that  the  people  may  be  kept  in  bondage.  Science  and 
invention  are  diverted  from  their  hu-mane  purpose  to  the  enslave- 
ment of  women  and  children. 

Against  such  a  system  the  Socialist  Labor  party  once  more  enters 
its  protest.  Once  more  it  reiterates  its  fundamental  declaration, 

388 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

that  private  property  in  the  natural  sources  of  production  and  in  the 
instruments  of  labor  is  the  obvious  cause  of  all  economic  servitude 
and  political  dependence. 

The  time  is  fast  coming  when,  in  the  natural  course  of  social 
evolution,  this  system,  through  the  destructive  action  of  its  fail- 
ures and  crises  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  constructive  tendencies  of 
its  trusts  and  other  capitalistic  combinations  on  the  other  hand, 
shall  have  worked  out  its  own  downfall. 

We  therefore  call  upon  the  wage-workers  of  the  United  States, 
and  upon  all  other  honest  citizens,  to  organize  under  the  banner 
of  the  Socialist  Labor  party  into  a  class-conscious  body,  aware  of  its 
rights  and  determined  to  conquer  them  by  taking  possession  of  the 
public  powers ;  so  that,  held  together  by  an  indomitable  spirit  of 
solidarity  under  the  most  trying  conditions  of  the  present  class 
struggle,  we  may  put  a  summary  end  to  that  barbarous  struggle  by 
the  abolition  of  classes,  the  restoration  of  the  land,  and  of  all  the 
means  of  production,  transportation,  and  distribution  to  the  people 
as  a  collective  body,  and  the  substitution  of  the  co-operative  com- 
monwealth for  the  present  state  of  planless  production,  industrial 
war,  and  social  disorder;  a  commonwealth  in  which  every  worker 
shall  have  the  free  exercise  and  full  benefit  of  his  faculties,  mul- 
tiplied by  all  the  modern  factors  of  civilization. 

With  a  view  to  immediate  improvement  in  the  condition  of  labor, 
we  present  the  following  demands : 

1.  Reduction  of  the  hours  of  labor  in  proportion  to  the  progress 
of  production. 

2.  The  United  States  to  obtain  possession  of  the  mines,  railroads, 
canals,  telegraphs,  telephones,  and  all  other  means  of  public  trans- 
portation and  communication;   the  employes  to  operate  the  same 
co-operatively  under  control  of  the  Federal  Government  and  to  elect 
their  own  superior  officers,  but  no    employe    shall    be    discharged 
for  political  reasons. 

3.  The  municipalities  to  obtain  possession  of  the  local  railroads, 
ferries,  water-works,  gas-works,  electric  plants,  and  all  industries 
requiring  municipal  franchises ;  the  employes  to  operate  the  same 
co-operatively  under  control  of  the  municipal  administration  and  to 
elect  their  own  superior  officers,  but  no  employe  shall  be  discharged 
for  political  reasons. 

4.  The  public  lands  to  be  declared  inalienable.     Revocation  of  all 
land  grants  to  corporations  or  individuals,  the  conditions  of  which 
have  not  been  complied  with. 

5.  The  United  States  to  have  the  exclusive  right  to  issue  money. 

6.  Congressional  legislation  providing  for  the  scientific  manage- 
ment of  forests  and  waterways,  and  prohibiting  the  waste  of  the 
natural  resources  of  the  country. 

7.  Inventions  to  be  free  to  all;  the  inventors  to  be  remunerated 
by  the  nation. 

8.  Progressive  income  tax  and  tax  on  inheritances;  the  smaller 
incomes  to  be  exempt. 

9.  School  education  of  all  children  under  fourteen  years  of  age 
to  be  compulsory,  gratuitous,  and  accessible  to  all  by  public  assist- 
ance in  meals,  clothing,  books,  etc.,  where  necessary. 

10.  Repeal  of  all  pauper,  tramp,  conspiracy,  and  sumptuary  laws. 
Unabridged  right  of  combination. 

389 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

11.  Prohibition  of  the  employment  of  children  of  school  age,  and 
the  employment  of  female  labor  in  occupations  detrimental  to  health 
or  morality.     Abolition  of  the  convict  labor  contract  system. 

12.  Employment   of   the   unemployed   by   the    public    authorities 
(county,  city,  state,  and  nation). 

13.  All  wages  to  be  paid  in  lawful  money  of  the  United  States. 
Equalization   of  women's  wages   with  those   of  men   where   equal 
service  is  performed. 

14.  Laws  for  the  protection  of  life  and  limb  in  all  occupations, 
and  an  efficient  employers'  liability  law. 

15.  The  people  to  have  the  right  to  propose  laws  and  to  vote 
upon    all    measures    of    importance,  according  to  the  referendum 
principle. 

16.  Abolition  of  the  veto  power  of  the  executive  (national,  State, 
and  municipal)  wherever  it  exists. 

17.  Abolition  of  the  United  States  Senate  and  all  upper  legisla- 
tive chambers. 

18.  Municipal  self-government. 

19.  Direct  vote  and  secret  ballots  in  all  elections.     Universal  and 
equal    right    of    suffrage    without    regard  to  color,  creed,  or  sex. 
Election  days  to  be  legal  holidays.     The  principle  of  proportional 
representation  to  be  introduced. 

20.  All  public  officers  to  be  subject  to  recall  by  their  respective 
constituencies. 

21.  Uniform  civil  and  criminal  law  throughout  the  United  States. 
Administration  of  justice  to  be  free  of  charge.    Abolition  of  capital 
punishment 

The  great  battle  of  1896  is  yet  fresh  in  the  memories  of 
the  people.  Its  most  notable  feature  was  the  unexampled 
campaign  made  by  Bryan,  the  Democratic  candidate  for 
President.  He  covered  a  larger  portion  of  territory  and 
delivered  more  speeches  during  the  campaign  than  had 
ever  before  been  accomplished  by  any  man  in  our  political 
history,  and  he  enthused  his -followers  to  a  very  remarkable 
degree.  Considering  the  complications  which  confronted 
him,  resulting  from  the  internal  feuds  of  his  own  household, 
and  an  open  split  on  the  Vice-Presidency,  he  made  the  most 
memorable  Presidential  campaign  of  the  Republic  and  swept 
every  State  west  of  the  Mississippi,  with  the  exception  of 
California,  Oregon  and  North  Dakota.  Even  Kansas  and 
Nebraska,  two  rock-ribbed  Republican  States,  gave  Bryan 
large  majorities,  but  Bryan  did  not  carry  a  single  electoral 
vote  east  of  the  Mississippi  and  north  of  the  Ohio  and  the 
Potomac.  The  following  tables  exhibit  the  popular  and  elec- 
toral votes  of  1896 : 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


STATES. 

POPULAR  VOTE. 

William 
McKinley, 
Republican. 

William  J. 
Bryan, 
Democrat. 

if 

.1  .?' 

nil 

Charles  E. 
Bentley, 
National. 

Charles  H. 
Matchett, 
Socialist- 
Labor. 

*f     f 

Total  vote. 

54,737 
37,512 
146,170 

•MT1 

110,285 
16,804 

11,288 
60,091 
6,324 
607,130 
323.754 

159'.345 
218,171 
22,037 
80,465 
13(5,959 
278,976 
293.582 
I9M01 
5,130 
304,940 
10,494 
103,064 
1,938 
57,444 
221,367 
819,838 
155,222 
26,335 
525,991 
48,779 
728,300 
36,437 
9,281 
41,042 
148,773 
167,520 
13,491 
51,127 
135,368 
39,153 
105.368 
268,135 
10,072 

107,137 
110,103 
121,629 
158,674 
56,740 
13,424 
30,683 
94,232 
23,192 
464,523 
305,753 
223,741 
120.060 
817,890 
77,175 
32,201 
104,735 
90,530 
236,714 

5^363 
363.6(57 
42,537 
115,999 
7,802 
21,271 
133,675 
551,390 
174,4aS 
20,686 
474.882 
46,662 

14,460 

58,798 
41.225 
163,651 
290,862 
64,607 
10,179 
154,709 
51,646 
94,480 
165,528 
10,369 

24,089 

*•& 

2,573 
1,717 
1,808 
355 
654 
5,613 
197 
9,796 
8,056 
3,192 
1,611 
4,781 

1,570 
5,918 
2,998 
5,025 
4,365 
485 
2,196 
186 
1,243 

6,46t 

194,572 

149,397 
296,503 
189,5% 
174,290 
31,4(50 
46,456 
162,644 
29,713 
1,090,869 
637,305 
521.547 
335,639 
445.,%! 
101,046 
118.593 
250,842 
401,568 
544,195 
341,637 
70,566 
674,046 
53,217 
224,171 
10,315 
83,670 
371,014 
1,423,903 
330,632 
47,379 
1,036,547 
97,337 
1,194,335 
53.780 
68,907 
82,950 
321,998 
544,786 
78,119 
C3.s-.28 
294,664 
93,583 
201,739 
446,097 
20,863 

893 
1,046 
386 

California    

21,744 
8,389 

1,611 
159 
1,223 

1,730 

Uoioraao  

4,234 
877 
1,778 
2,708 



2,053 

1,090 

793 
2,268 
352 
620 

1,147 
329 
453 

6,390 
2,145 
4,516 
1,209 
5.019 
1,834 
1,870 
2,507 
11.749 
6,879 
3,230 
1.071 
2,355 

46,194 

2,487 

•  



136 

587 
2,114 

Massachusetts  

15,181 

1,995 

Minnesota 

7,517 

915 

293 

595 

Nebraska  

797 

183 

5,885 

Nevada  
New  Hampshire  .. 
New  Jersey  

575 
379 

779 
5,614 
16,052 
675 
358 
5,068 
919 
19,274 
1,160 

49 

2C8 
3,985 
17,6(57 

3,520 
6,373 
18,950 

North  Carolina  
North  Dakota  
Ohio 

247 

26,015 

2,716 

1,875 
977 
11,000 
1,166 

828 

Pennsylvania  
Rhode  Island 

11,174 

870 

1,083 
558 

South  Carolina  
South  Dakota  

683 
3.098 
1,786 

4,525 
79,572 

1,951 
5,046 
21 
1,331 
2,129 
1,668 
675 
4,584 

TTtah 

458 

733 
2,350 
968 
1,216 
7,509 
136 

108 

Washington 



148 

Virginia  
Wisconsin  

286 

346 



Total  

7,107,304 

6,287,352 

245,728  I  180,753 

13,955 

33,545 

133,542 

13,952,179 

NOTE. — There  was  fusion  on  the  electoral  ticket  of  the  Democrats  and  Populists — 
and  in  some  States  there  was  fusion  on  the  electoral  ticket  of  the  Democrats  and  Silver 
Republicans— in  the  following  States :  Arkansas,  Colorado,  Connecticut,  Idaho.  Illinois, 
Iowa,  Kansas,  Kentuck  v,  Louisiana,  Michigan,  Minnesota,  Missouri,  Montana,  Nebraska, 
New  Jersey,  North  Carolina,  North  Dakota,  Ohio,  Oregon,  Pennsylvania,  South 
Dakota,  Utah,  Washington,  West  Virginia,  Wisconsin  and  Wyoming.  In  some  of  the 
.ike  Illinois  and  Kansas,  there  were  Bryan- Watson  tickets  run  by  Middle-of-the- 
road  Populists.  It  has  been  impossible  to  separate  the  Populist  from  the  Democratic 
vote  in  the  States  in  which  there  was  a  fusion  of  those  parties.  In  some  of  the  States, 
like  Illinois,  in  which  the  two  parties  voted  for  the  same  electors  but  upon  separate 
tickets,  county  officers,  in  making  returns  to  the  secretaries  of  state,  have  combined  the 
votes  on  electors,  and  it  is  impossible  to  say  how  the  vote  should  be  divided  In  such 
cases  the  vote  classed  under  the  head  "  Bryan,  Populist "  is  no  indication  of  the  strength 
of  the  People's  party,  while  at  the  same  time  it  gives  too  large  a  vote  to  the  Democrats. 
There  is  no  way  of  giving,  even  approximately,  the  vote  of  the  two  parties  on  presi- 
dential electors. 

391 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

ELECTORAL  VOTE. 


STATES. 

PRESIDENT. 

VICE-PRESIDENT. 

McKinley. 

c 

m 

Hobart. 

Sewall. 

Watson. 

Alabama  

8 

6 
3 

24 
15 

13 

12 

~6 
8 
15 
14 
9 

4 
10 
36 

3 
23 

4 
32 
4 

4 

6 
12 

11 

8 

1 
4 

4 
13 
3 

10 
1 

8 

~9 

17 
3 
8 
3 

11 

9 
4 
12 
15 
3 

12 
4 

3 

8 

6 
3 

24 
15 
18 

12 

6 
8 
15 
14 
9 

4 

10 
36 

^3 
23 

4 
32 
4 

4 

6 
12 

11 
5 
1 

4 

4 
13 
3 

3 

4 

~4 
1 
4 

5 

2 

1 
2 
1 

Arkansas                    

California                                                . 

Colorado  

Connecticut                               .       .       . 

Delaware                                               • 

Florida  

Georgia                                     .               . 

Idaho  

Illinois  ... 

Iowa  

Kansas                                       .     .          . 

10 
1 

4 

Louisiana    .       .        

Maryland  

Massachusetts 

Michigan  

Minnesota  

9 
13 
2 
4 
3 

~6 

9 
2 
12 
15 
2 

12 
2 

2 

Missouri  

Montana                              .     ..            

Nevada    

New  Hampshire 

New  Jersey  

New  York                  

North  Dakota  

Ohio         .                    . 

Oregon  

Pennsylvania  .       .              .       ..          .  . 

South  Carolina  

South  Dakota 

Tennessee  

Texas     .... 

Utah 

Vermont  

Virginia 

"Washington  

West  Virginia  

'Wyoming  

Totals  ..  . 

271 

176. 

271 

149 

27 

No  mere  party  contest  in  the  history  of  the  country,  and 
indeed  no  other  contest,  with  the  single  exception  of  the 
issue  of  secession  and  civil  war,  ever  exhibited  so  large 


392 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

a  measure  of  political  independence  as  is  shown  in  the  vote 
for  President  in  1896.  While  the  Democrats  had  a  sound- 
money  national  ticket  with  such  acceptable  candidates  as 
Palmer  and  Buckner,  a  very  small  proportion  of  the  sound- 
money  Democratic  vote  of  the  country  was  cast  for  that 
ticket.  McKinley  certainly  received  500,000  Democratic 
votes,  cast  for  him  directly  to  assure  the  defeat  of  Bryan,  and 
Bryan  certainly  received  not  less  than  250,000  Republican 
votes. 

It  was  not  until  six  weeks  before  the  election  that  the 
Republicans  felt  confident  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois. 
The  first  canvass  of  the  Republican  State  committee  made 
in  Ohio  indicated  the  defeat  of  McKinley,  but  as  the  business 
and  industrial  interests  of  the  country  faced  the  question 
of  cheap  money,  and  the  business  convulsion  it  must  produce, 
the  Republican  ranks  were  steadily  increased,  and  the  States 
which  were  regarded  as  doubtful  in  September  gave  large 
majorities  for  McKinley  in  November. 

(This  campaign  gave  a  most  impressive  illustration  of  the 
trite~"independence  of  American  journalism.  A  number  of 
the  leading  newspapers  of  the  country  which  had  supported 
Cleveland  in  his  three  contests,  repudiated  the  Chicago 
platform  and  its  candidate,  and  they  stood  in  the  forefront 
of  American  journalism,  embracing  such  journals  as  the 
Boston  Herald  and  Globe,  the  Hartford  Times,  the  New 
York  World,  Sun,  Herald,  Times,  and  Evening  Post,  the 
Philadelphia  Times  and  Record,  the  Baltimore  Sun,  the 
Louisville  Courier-Journal,  and  others.  These  journals  were 
all  strongly  owned  and  entirely  independent  in  their  political 
action.  Not  one  of  them  ever  had  conference  or  communica- 
tion with  the  McKinley  leaders,  or  received  or  proposed  any 
terms  for  their  support,  or  ever  sought,  accepted,  or  desired 
favors  from  the  McKinley  administration.  Some  of  them 
suffered  pecuniary  sacrifice,  but  they  performed  a  heroic 
duty,  and  it  was  the  inspiration  they  gave  to  the  conservative 
Democratic  sentiment  of  the  country  that  made  McKinley 
President  by  an  overwhelming  majority/} 

On  the  other  side,  especially  in  the  West,  and  to  some 
extent  in  the  South,  scores  of  thousands  of  the  Republicans 
who  had  always  voted  the  national  ticket  gave  enthusiastic 
support  to  Bryan,  as  he  carried  some  of  the  strongest 
Republican  States  of  the  West,  while  losing  a  large  fraction 
of  the  Democratic  vote.  This  struggle  settled  the  financial 

393 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

policy  of  the  country,  as  Congress  has  recently  distinctly 
established  the  gold  standard  by  statute,  in  accord  with  the 
financial  policy  of  all  the  great  civilized  nations  of  the  world ; 
and  while  the  money  issue  may  play  some  part  in  the  national 
struggle  of  the  present  year,  it  will  be  wisely  subordinated 
to  other  issues  and  probably  be  eliminated  from  the  future 
political  battles  of  the  nation. 


THE  McKINLEY— BRYAN  CONTEST 

1900 


THE  great  struggle  of  1900  for  the  election  of  President 
took  formal  shape  as  early  as  the  5th  of  September,  1898, 
when  what  was  called  the  People's  Party  national  convention 
met  at  Cincinnati  and  nominated  Wharton  Barker,  of  Penn- 
sylvania, for  President,  and  Ignatius  Donnelly,  of  Minnesota, 
for  Vice-President.  What  was  generally  known  as  the 
Populist  element  that  supported  Bryan  for  President  in 
1896,  had  a  serious  split  in  that  year  on  the  candidate  for 
Vice-President.  A  portion  of  the  Populists,  including  a 
large  majority,  supported  Sewell,  the  regular  Democratic 
candidate  for  Vice-President,  along  with  Bryan,  but  another 
element  of  the  same  party  known  as  the  Middle-of-the-road 
Populists,  supported  Watson  for  Vice-President  and  cast 
245,728  votes  for  him. 

Earnest  efforts  were  made  to  harmonize  the  two  Populist 
factions  but  without  success,  and  the  Middle-of-the-road 
Populists  called  the  People's  Party  convention  to  meet  at 
Cincinnati  on  the  5th  of  September,  1898.  The  convention 
was  largely  attended,  but  the  vote  on  the  nomination  for 
President  shows  that  there  were  not  over  250  recognized 
delegates.  The  convention  was  organized  by  making  Igna- 
tius Donnelly  temporary  president,  who  was  afterwards, 
although  against  his  protest,  made  the  permanent  president 
of  the  body.  The  attitude  of  the  other  Populist  faction 
was  severely  criticised  in  the  debates  of  this  convention,  as 
that  of  a  mere  appendage  to  the  Democratic  party,  and  there 
was  entire  unanimity  on  the  question  of  making  distinct 
nominations  and  declaring  absolute  independence  of  the 
Democratic  organization.  Three  names  were  presented  for 
President,  viz:  Wharton  Barker,  of  Pennsylvania,  Igna- 
tius Donnelly,  of  Minnesota,  and  Captain  Frank  Burkett, 
of  Mississippi,  but  Burkett  peremptorily  declined.  Barker 

395 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

was  nominated  on  the  first  ballot  by  a  vote  of  I28|  to  117^  for 
Donnelly,  whereupon  Mr.  Donnelly  moved  to  make  the  nomi- 
nation of  Mr.  Barker  unanimous,  and  it  was  so  declared  by  the 
convention,  when  Mr.  Donnelly  was  nominated  for  Vice- 
President  without  the  formality  of  a  ballot.  An  elaborate 
address  to  the  people  of  the  country  prepared  by  Mr. 
Donnelly  was  read  and  approved,  and  the  following  platform 
was  unanimously  adopted : 

As  a  fundamental  step  to  the  preservation  of  our  endangered 
liberties  we  demand  that  the  reign  of  corruption  shall  cease  in  our 
legislative  halls,  by  the  establishment  of  direct  legislation.  We 
must  shorten  the  plow  handles  of  government,  by  bringing  the 
legislator  closer  to  his  principals — so  close  that  no  lobbyist  can 
intrude  between  them.  Through  the  initiative  and  referendum 
all  moral  and  political  questions  can  be  submitted  to  a  fair  and 
impartial  vote  of  the  people,  and  if  adopted  by  a  majority  of  the 
voters  become  the  law  of  the  land. 

While  we  demand  that  if  either  gold  or  silver  is  to  be  used  as 
money  both  shall  be  so  used,  we  insist  that  the  best  currency  this 
country  ever  possessed  was  the  full  legal  tender  greenback  of  the 
civil  war.  And  we  look  forward  with  hope  to  the  day  when  gold 
shall  be  relegated  to  the  arts  of  the  country  and  the  human  family 
possess,  free  of  tribute  to  bankers,  a  governmental  full  legal  measure 
of  value,  made  of  paper,  that  will  expand  side  by  side  with  the 
growth  of  wealth  and  population.  Then,  and  only  then,  will  the 
people  realize  the  full  benefits  of  civilization  and  the  world  be  made 
a  garden  of  delights  for  mankind. 

We  call  attention  to  the  public  school  system  and  the  postal 
service  as  exemplifications  of  a  beneficent  state  socialism,  which 
our  people  would  only  relinquish  with  their  lives.  And  we  demand 
that  the  carrying  of  messages  written  with  pen  and  ink  be  amplified 
to  embrace  messages  written  by  electricity,  and  that  the  train  of  cars 
which  carries  our  letters  be  owned  by  the  Government  to  carry  those 
who  wrote  the  letters.  No  other  reforms  will  avail  much  if  cor- 
porations are  permitted  to  say  how  much  they  shall  take  from  the 
producers  and  how  much  they  will  leave  them.  This  is  taxation 
without  representation  in  its  worst  form.  It  is  the  disgrace  of  our 
Republic  that  foreign  despotisms  have  defended  the  right  of  the 
people  in  these  particulars,  while  corruption  has  made  self-govern- 
ment a  helpless  failure  in  this  land.  We  believe  in  the  collective 
ownership  of  those  means  of  production  and  distribution  which  the 
people  may  elect,  such  as  railways,  telegraphs,  telephones,  coal 
mines,  etc. 

We  are  opposed  to  individuals  or  corporations  fastening  them- 
selves, like  vampires,  on  the  people,  and  sucking  their  substance ; 
and  we  demand  that  whatever  can  be  better  done  by  Govern- 
ment for  the  enrichment  of  the  many  shall  not  be  turned  over  to 
individuals  for  the  aggrandizement  of  the  few. 

Hence,  we  insist  that  banks  have  no  more  right  to  create  our 
money  than  they  would  have  to  organize  our  army  or  pass  our  laws, 

396 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

We  re-affirm  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  Omaha  platform 
and  declare  it  to  be  the  immutable  creed  of  our  party,  coeval  with 
it  in  birth  and  filled  with  the  spirit  that  launched  it  on  its  grand 
career.  It  must  not  be  whittled  away  or  traded  off  for  offices. 
The  man  who  proposes  to  do  this  is  an  enemy  of  mankind ;  he  would 
sell  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  for  a  mess  of  pottage. 

In  order  to  maintain  the  liberties  of  the  people  we  must  preserve 
their  homes,  and  we  therefore  demand  laws  in  the  several  States 
exempting  the  homes  of  the  people  from  taxation  absolutely  in  a 
sum  not  less  than  $2000,  and  a  personal  property  exemption  of  not 
less  than  $300  to  each  head  of  a  family.  To  make  up  for  this  reduc- 
tion of  taxation  we  favor  an  income,  inheritance  and  other  like 
taxes. 

"With  malice  towards  none,  with  charity  for  all,  with  devotion  to 
the  right  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,"  we  commit  our  cause  to 
the  hearts  and  consciences  of  the  American  people. 

This  action  of  the  Middle-of-the-road  Populists,  who 
were  the  first  to  enter  the  Presidential  contest  of  1900  with 
the  title  of  the  People's  party,  seriously  disturbed  the 
opposing  Populist  faction,  and  renewed  efforts  were  made 
to  unite  the  party.  A  meeting  of  the  Populist  national 
committee  was  called  at  Lincoln,  the  home  of  Mr.  Bryan, 
in  February,  1900,  when  earnest  efforts  were  made  to  bring 
the  disputing  factions  into  harmonious  action,  but  the 
Middle-of-the-road  element  was  not  disposed  to  yield  to 
what  they  claimed  to  be  the  absolute  subordination  of  the 
Populist  party  to  the  Democrats.  There  was  much  crimina- 
tion and  recrimination  between  the  leaders,  the  regulars 
declaring  that  the  Middle-of-the-road  element  was  sup- 
ported by  Republican  money,  to  which  the  retort  was  made 
that  Senators  Butler,  Allen,  Pettigrew,  Heitfeld  and  other 
fusion  Populists,  were  struggling  to  serve  their  own  political 
purposes  to  maintain  their  positions  in  the  Senate.  The 
Middle-of-the-road  leaders  declared  that  they  were  Simon- 
pure  Populists,  and  preferred  defeat  to  party  disintegration. 
The  result  was  that  both  called  separate  national  conventions 
and  both  used  the  name  of  the  People's  party. 

The  Fusion  element  under  the  lead  of  Senator  Allen  and 
others  called  their  convention  to  meet  at  Sioux  Falls  on  the 
9th  of  May,  1900,  and  the  Middle-of-the-road  leaders  called 
another  convention  to  meet  at  Cincinnati  on  the  same  day, 
although  they  had  already  nominated  candidates  at  their 
Cincinnati  convention  that  met  on  the  5th  of  September, 
1898.  The  second  Middle-of-the-road  Populist  national 
convention  met  at  Cincinnati  on  May  9,  1900,  and  was 

397 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

much  more  largely  attended  than  the  first  convention  of  the 
same  party.  The  convention  was  called  to  order  by  national 
chairman  Deaver,  and  Ex-Congressman  H.  W.  Howard,  of 
Alabama,  was  made  temporary  chairman.  On  the  second 
day  William  L.  Peek,  of  Georgia,  was  made  permanent 
president.  The  names  of  Wharton  Barker,  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, Ignatius  Donnelly,  of  Minnesota,  H.  W.  Howard,  of 
Alabama,  and  S.  F.  Norton,  of  Arkansas,  were  presented  as 
candidates  for  President,  and  two  ballots  were  had  as 
follows : 


1ST    BALLOT 

2D   BALLOT 

Barker 

314.4 

370 

Howard 

326.6 

339 

Donnelly 

70 

Norton 

3 

The  nomination  of  Barker  was  then  made  unanimous  with 
cheers,  and  Ignatius  Donnelly  was  nominated  for  Vice- 
President  by  acclamation.  The  following  platform  was 
unanimously  adopted : 


The  People's  party  of  the  United  States,  assembled  in  national 
convention  this  loth  day  of  May,  1900,  affirming  our  unshaken  belief 
in  the  cardinal  tenets  of  the  People's  party  as  set  forth  in  the  Omaha 
platform,  and  pledging  ourselves  anew  to  the  continued  advocacy  of 
those  grand  principles  of  human  liberty  until  right  shall  triumph 
over  might  and  love  over  greed,  do  adopt  and  proclaim  this  declara- 
tion of  faith. 

We  demand  the  initiative  and  referendum  and  the  imperative 
mandate  for  such  existing  changes  of  fundamental  and  statute  law 
that  will  enable  the  people  in  their  sovereign  capacity  to  propose  and 
compel  the  enactment  of  such  laws  as  they  desire;  to  reject  such  as 
they  deem  injurious  to  their  interest  and  to  recall  unfaithful  public 
servants. 

We  demand  the  public  ownership  and  operation  of  those  means 
of  communication,  transportation  and  production  which  the  people 
may  elect,  such  as  railroads,  telegraph  and  telephone  lines,  coal 
mines,  etc.  The  land  including  all  natural  resources  of  wealth,  is 
a  heritage  of  the  people  and  should  not  be  monopolized  for  specu- 
lative purposes,  and  alien  ownership  of  land  should  be  prohibited. 
All  land  now  held  by  railroads  and  other  corporations  in  excess  of 
their  actual  needs  and  lands  now  owned  by  aliens  should  be  reclaimed 
by  the  Government  and  held  for  actual  settlers  only. 

A  scientific  and  absolute  paper  money,  based  upon  the  entire 
wealth  and  population  of  the  nation,  not  redeemable  in  any 
specific  commodity,  but  made  a  full  legal  tender  for  all  debts  and 

398 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

receivable  for  all  taxes  and  public  dues  and  issued  by  the  Govern- 
ment only,  without  the  intervention  of  banks  and  in  sufficient 
quantity  to  meet  the  demands  of  commerce,  is  the  best  currency 
that  can  be  devised;  but  until  such  a  financial  system  is  secured, 
which  we  shall  press  for  adoption,  we  favor  the  free  and  unlimited 
coinage  of  both  gold  and  silver  at  the  legal  ratio  of  16  to  i. 

We  demand  the  levy  and  collection  of  a  graduated  tax  on  income 
and  inheritances  and  a  Constitutional  Amendment  to  secure  the 
same  if  necessary. 

We  demand  the  election  of  President,  Vice-President,  Federal 
Judges  and  United  States  Senators  by  direct  vote  of  the  people. 

We  are  opposed  to  trusts  and  declare  that  the  contention  between 
the  two  old  parties  on  the  monopoly  question  is  a  sham  battle  and 
that  no  solution  of  this  mighty  problem  can  be  had  without  the 
adoption  of  the  principles  of  public  ownership  of  utility. 

The  national  convention  of  the  fusion  wing  of  the 
Populists  met  as  the  People's  party  at  Sioux  Falls,  S.  D.,  on 
the  Qth  of  May,  with  an  attendance  of  delegates  of  nearly 
1,000.  Among  the  prominent  participants  in  the  convention 
were  United  States  Senators  Butler,  Allen,  Heitfeld  and 
Pettigrew.  Senator  Butler,  chairman  of  the  national  com- 
mittee, called  the  convention  to  order,  and  after  an  address 
in  which  he  denounced  the  Middle-of-the-road  Populists, 
then  in  session  at  Cincinnati,  Thomas  Patterson,  of 
Colorado,  was  made  permanent  chairman.  The  proceed- 
ings of  the  first  day  ended  with  the  organization. 

There  was  entire  unanimity  in  the  convention  for  the 
nomination  of  William  J.  Bryan  for  President,  as  it  was 
universally  accepted  that  he  would  be  nominated  by  the 
Democrats  in  their  convention  to  be  held  in  Kansas  City; 
but  a  number  of  the  leaders  who  desired  to  harmonize  com- 
pletely with  the  Democrats,  urged  that  there  should  be  no 
nomination  made  for  Vice-President,  as  if  the  Democrats  did 
not  accept  the  candidate  for  that  office  nominated  by  the 
People's  party  there  would  be  the  same  complications  which 
arose  in  1896. 

The  question  of  Vice-President  brought  out  a  very 
earnest  and  at  times  very  bitter  discussion.  Senator  Allen 
made  the  leading  speech  presenting  Bryan's  name  to  the 
convention,  and  after  a  number  of  addresses  had  been 
delivered,  Bryan  was  nominated  by  acclamation  without  the 
formality  of  a  ballot.  The  great  battle  of  the  convention 
followed  over  the  Vice-Presidency.  Senators  Allen  and 
Butler  led  in  the  fight  to  nominate  a  candidate,  and  it  was 

"  399 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

followed  by  a  discussion  that  was  at  times  so  violent  as  to 
present  the  convention  in  a  riotous  mood.  Under  the 
previous  question  the  convention  was  finally  brought  to  a 
test  vote  on  the  issue  of  nominating  a  candidate  for  Vice- 
President,  and  decided  in  favor  of  a  nomination  by  492  to 
268.  Charles  A.  Towne,  of  Minnesota,  was  then  presented 
for  Vice-President,  and  he  was  nominated  by  acclamation. 
The  platform  adopted  was  understood  to  have  been  revised 
by  the  immediate  representatives  of  Mr.  Bryan,  and  is  as 
follows  : 

The  People's  party  of  the  United  States  in  convention  assembled, 
congratulating  its  supporters  upon  the  wide  extension  of  its  principles 
in  all  directions,  does  hereby  reaffirm  its  adherence  to  the  funda- 
mental principles  proclaimed  in  its  two  prior  platforms  and  calls 
upon  all  who  desire  to  avert  the  subversion  of  free  institutions  by 
corporate  and  imperialistic  power  to  unite  with  it  in  bringing  the 
Government  back  to  the  ideals  of  Washington,  Jefferson,  Jackson 
and  Lincoln.  It  extends  to  its  allies  in  the  struggle  for  financial 
and  economic  freedom  assurances  of  its  loyalty  to  the  principles 
which  animate  the  allied  forces  and  the  promise  of  honest  and 
hearty  co-operation  in  every  effort  for  their  success.  To  the  people 
of  the  United  States  we  offer  the  following  platform  as  the 
expression  of  our  unalterable  convictions : 

Resolved,  That  we  denounce  the  act  of  March  14,  1900,  as  the 
culmination  of  a  long  series  of  conspiracies  to  deprive  the  people  of 
their  constitutional  rights  over  the  money  of  the  nation  and  delegate 
to  a  gigantic  money  trust  the  control  of  the  purse  and  pence  of  the 
people.  We  denounce  this  act : 

First.  For  making  all  money  obligations,  domestic  and  foreign, 
payable  in  gold  coin  or  its  equivalent,  thus  enormously  increasing 
the  burdens  of  the  debtors  and  enriching  the  creditors. 

Second.  For  refunding  "coin"  bonds,  not  to  mature  for  years,  into 
long-time  gold  bonds  so  as  to  make  their  payment  improbable  and 
our  debt  perpetual. 

Third.  For  taking  from  the  Treasury  over  fifty  millions  of  dollars 
in  a  time  of  war,  and  presenting  it  as  a  premium  to  bondholders  to 
accomplish  the  refunding  of  bonds  not  due. 

Fourth.  For  doubling  the  capital  of  bankers  by  returning  to  them 
the  face-value  of  their  bonds  in  current  money  notes,  so  that  they 
may  draw  one  interest  from  the  Government  and  another  from  the 
people. 

Fifth.  For  allowing  banks  to  expand  and  contract  their  circulation 
at  pleasure,  thus  controlling  prices  of  all  products. 

Sixth.  For  authorizing  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  issue  new 
gold  bonds  to  an  unlimited  amount  whenever  he  deems  it  necessary 
to  replenish  the  gold  hoard,  thus  enabling  usurers  to  secure  more 
bonds  and  more  bank  currency  by  drawing  gold  from  the  Treasury, 
thereby  creating  an  "endless  chain"  for  perpetually  adding  to  a  per- 
petual debt. 

Seventh.  For  striking  down  the  greenback  in  order  to  force  the 

400 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

people  to  borrow  three  hundred  and  forty-six  millions  of  dollars 
more  from  the  banks,  at  an  annual  cost  of  over  twenty  millions  of 
dollars. 

While  barring  out  the  money  of  the  Constitution  this  law  opens 
the  printing  mints  of  the  Treasury  to  the  free  coinage  of  bank 
paper  money,  to  enrich  the  few  and  impoverish  the  many. 

We  pledge  anew  the  People's  party  never  to  cease  the  agitation 
until  this  eighth  financial  conspiracy  is  blotted  from  the  statute 
books,  the  Lincoln  greenback  restored,  the  bonds  all  paid  and  all 
corporation  money  forever  retired. 

We  reaffirm  the  demand  for  the  reopening  of  the  mints  of  the 
United  States  to  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver  and  gold 
at  the  present  legal  ratio  of  16  to  i,  the  immediate  increase  in  the 
volume  of  silver  coin  and  certificates  thus  created  to  be  substituted, 
dollar  for  dollar,  for  the  banknotes  issued  by  private  corporations 
under  special  privilege  granted  by  the  law  of  March  14,  1900,  and 
prior  National  Banking  laws,  the  remaining  portion  of  the  banknotes 
to  be  replaced  with  full  legal  tender  Government  paper  money  and 
its  volume  so  controlled  as  to  maintain  at  all  times  a  stable  money 
market  and  a  stable  price  level. 

We  demand  a  graduated  income  and  inheritance  tax  to  the  end 
that  aggregated  wealth  shall  bear  its  just  proportion  of  taxation. 

We  demand  that  postal  savings  banks  be  established  by  the 
Government  for  the  safe  deposit  of  the  savings  of  the  people  and 
to  facilitate  exchange. 

With  Thomas  Jefferson  we  declare  the  land,  including  all  natural 
sources  of  wealth,  the  inalienable  heritage  of  the  people.  The 
Government  should  so  act  as  to  secure  homes  for  the  people  and 
prevent  land  monopoly.  The  original  homestead  policy  should  be 
enforced  and  future  settlers  upon  the  public  domain  should  be 
entitled  to  a  free  homestead,  while  all  who  have  paid  an  acreage 
price  to  the  Government  under  existing  laws  should  have  their 
homestead  rights  restored. 

Transportation  being  a  means  of  exchange  and  a  public  necessity, 
the  Government  should  own  and  operate  the  railways  in  the  interest 
of  the  people  and  on  a  non-partisan  basis,  to  the  end  that  all  may 
be  accorded  the  same  treatment  in  transportation  and  that  the 
extortion,  tyranny  and  political  power  now  exercised  by  the  great 
railroad  corporations,  which  result  in  the  impairment,  if  not  the 
destruction,  of  the  political  rights  and  personal  liberties  of  the  citizen, 
may  be  destroyed.  Such  ownership  is  to  be  accomplished  in  a 
manner  consistent  with  sound  public  policy. 

Trusts,  the  overshadowing  evil  of  the  age,  are  the  result  and 
culmination  of  the  private  ownership  and  control  of  the  three  great 
instruments  of  commerce — money,  transportation,  and  the  means  of 
transmission  of  information,  which  instruments  of  commerce  are 
public  functions  and  which  our  forefathers  declared  in  the  Con- 
stitution should  be  controlled  by  the  people  through  their  Congress 
for  the  public  welfare.  The  one  remedy  for  the  trusts  is  that  the 
ownership  and  control  be  assumed  and  exercised  by  the  people. 

We  further  demand  that  all  tariffs  on  goods  controlled  by  a  trust 
shall  be  abolished. 

To  cope  with  the  trust  evil,  the  people  must  act  directly  without 

40J 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

the  intervention  of  representatives  who  may  be  controlled  or 
influenced.  We  therefore  demand  direct  legislation,  giving  the 
people  law-making  and  veto  power  under  the  initiative  and  referen- 
dum. A  majority  of  the  people  can  never  be  corruptly  influenced. 

Applauding  the  valor  of  our  Army  and  Navy  in  the  Spanish  War, 
we  denounce  the  conduct  of  the  Administration  in  changing  a  war 
for  humanity  into  a  war  of  conquest.  The  action  of  the  Adminis- 
tration in  the  Philippines  is  in  conflict  with  all  the  precedents  of  our 
national  life,  at  war  with  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the 
Constitution,  and  the  plain  precepts  of  humanity.  Murder  and 
arson  have  been  our  response  to  the  appeals  of  the  people  who  asked 
only  to  establish  a  free  government  in  their  own  lands.  We  demand 
the  stoppage  of  this  war  of  extermination  by  the  assurance  to  the 
Philippines  of  independence  and  protection  under  a  stable  govern- 
ment of  their  own  creation. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  Constitution  and  the 
American  flag  are  one  and  inseparable.  The  Island  of  Porto  Rico 
is  a  part  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  and  by  levying  special 
and  extraordinary  customs  duties  on  the  commerce  of  that  island 
the  Administration  has  violated  the  Constitution,  abandoned  the 
fundamental  principles  of  American  liberty  and  striven  to  give  the 
lie  to  the  contention  of  our  forefathers  that  there  should  be  no  taxa- 
tion without  representation. 

Out  of  the  imperialism  which  would  force  an  undesired  domi- 
nation on  our  part  over  the  Philippines  springs  the  un-American  cry 
for  a  large  standing  army.  Nothing  in  the  character  or  purposes 
of  our  people  justifies  us  in  ignoring  the  plain  lesson  of  history  and 
putting  our  liberties  in  jeopardy  by  assuming  the  burden  of  mili- 
tarism which  is  crushing  the  people  of  the  Old  World.  We  denounce 
the  Administration  for  its  sinister  efforts  to  substitute  a  standing 
army  for  the  citizen  soldiery,  which  is  the  best  safeguard  of  the 
Republic. 

We  extend  to  the  brave  boys  of  South  Africa  our  sympathy  and 
moral  support  in  their  patriotic  struggle  for  the  rights  of  self- 
government,  and  we  are  unalterably  opposed  to  any  alliance,  open 
or  covert,  between  the  United  States  and  any  other  nation  that  will 
tend  to  the  destruction  of  human  liberty. 

A  further  manifestation  of  imperialism  is  to  be  found  in  the 
mining  district  of  Idaho.  In  the  Cceur  d'Alene  soldiers  have  been 
used  to  over-awe  miners  striving  for  a  greater  measure  of  industrial 
independence.  And  we  denounce  the  State  Government  of  Idaho 
and  the  Federal  Administration  for  thus  employing  the  military  arm 
of  the  Government  to  abridge  and  suppress  the  civil  rights  of  the 
people,  and  to  enforce  an  infamous  permit  system  which  denies  to 
laborers  their  inherent  liberty  and  compels  them  to  forswear  their 
manhood  and  their  right  before  being  permitted  to  seek  employment. 

The  importation  of  Japanese  and  other  laborers  under  contract 
to  serve  monopolistic  corporations  is  a  notorious  and  flagrant  viola- 
tion of  the  immigration  laws.  We  demand  that  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment shall  take  cognizance  of  this  menacing  evil  and  repress  it 
under  existing  laws.  We  further  pledge  ourselves  to  strive  for  the 
enactment  of  more  stringent  laws  for  the  exclusion  of  Mongolian 
and  Malayan  immigration. 

402 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

We  indorse  municipal  ownership  of  public  utilities,  and  declare 
that  the  advantages  which  have  accrued  to  the  public  under  that 
system  will  be  multiplied  one  hundred  fold  by  its  extension  to 
natural  interstate  monopolies. 

We  denounce  the  practice  of  issuing  injunctions  in  cases  of 
disputes  between  employers  and  employes,  making  criminal  acts  by 
organizations  which  are  not  criminal  when  performed  by  individuals, 
and  demand  legislation  to  restrain  the  evil. 

We  demand  that  United  States  Senators  and  all  other  officials  as 
far  as  practicable  be  elected  by  direct  vote  of  the  people. 

Believing  that  the  elective  franchise  and  untrammeled  ballot  are 
essential  to  a  government  of,  for  and  by  the  people,  the  People's 
party  condemns  the  wholesale  system  of  disfranchisement  by  co- 
ercion and  intimidation  adopted  in  some  States  as  unrepublican  and 
undemocratic  and  we  declare  it  to  be  the  duty  of  the  several  State 
legislatures  to  take  such  action  as  will  secure  a  full,  free  and  fair 
ballot  and  an  honest  count. 

We  favor  home-rule  in  the  Territories  and  the  District  of 
Columbia  and  the  early  admission  of  the  Territories  as  States. 

We  denounce  the  expensive  red-tape  system,  political  favoritism, 
cruel  and  unnecessary  delay  and  criminal  invasion  of  the  statutes 
in  the  management  of  the  pension  offices  and  demand  the  simple  and 
honest  execution  of  the  law  and  fulfilment  by  the  nation  of  its 
pledges  to  secure  pensions  to  all  its  honorably  discharged  veterans. 

The  Socialist  elements  were  very  much  in  evidence  in  the 
preliminary  movements  of  the  campaign  of  1900.  They  not 
only  largely  permeated  the  two  conventions  of  the  People's 
party,  held  at  Sioux  Falls  and  Cincinnati,  but  they  held 
several  distinct  Socialist  national  conventions  and  nominated 
opposing  candidates.  The  Socialist  Labor  party  met  in 
Rochester  on  Saturday  the  27th  of  January,  1900,  and  held 
daily  sessions  for  seven  consecutive  days,  including  Sunday. 
Delegations  were  present  from  California,  Connecticut, 
Illinois,  Michigan,  Missouri,  Massachusetts,  New  Jersey, 
New  York,  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania.  Frank  Sieverman 
was  made  temporary  chairman  and  subsequently  elected 
as  permanent  presiding  officer. 

The  first  day  was  devoted  entirely  to  routine  business. 
The  second  day,  being  Sunday,  was  the  field  day  of  the 
convention,  presenting  varied  discussions  on  different  phases 
of  Social  issues.  Monday  session  was  taken  up  wholly  in  the 
discussion  of  the  propriety  of  uniting  the  Socialist  Labor 
party  with  the  Social  Democratic  party,  that  had  called  its 
convention  to  meet  at  Indianapolis  at  a  later  period.  The 
debate  occupied  the  whole  of  the  day  until  a  late  hour  in  the 
evening,  when  it  was  decided  by  nearly  a  unanimous  vote  that 

403 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

\ 

the  convention  should  extend  the  hand  of  fellowship  to  the 
Social  Democratic  party,  with  a  view  of  effecting  a  union 
of  the  two  Socialist  organizations. 

On  Tuesday  the  convention  completed  its  work  for  a 
union  of  the  two  parties  by  appointing  a  committee  of  nine, 
to  be  known  as  a  permanent  committee  on  Social  union, 
that  was  charged  with  the  entire  duty  of  effecting  the  union 
of  the  two  organizations,  and  most  of  the  afternoon  session 
was  devoted  to  the  discussion  of  the  platform.  On  Wednes- 
day the  discussion  of  the  new  platform  was  concluded,  and 
it  was  unanimously  adopted  as  follows : 

The  Socialist  Labor  party  of  the  United  States,  in  convention 
assembled,  reaffirms  its  allegiance  to  the  revolutionary  principles 
of  International  Socialism  and  declares  the  supreme  political  issue 
in  America  to-day  to  be  the  contest  between  the  working  class 
and  the  capitalist  class  for  the  possession  of  the  powers  of  govern- 
ment. We  affirm  our  steadfast  purpose  to  use  those  powers,  once 
achieved,  to  destroy  wage  slavery,  abolish  the  institution  of  private 
property  in  the  means  of  production,  and  establish  the  co-operative 
commonwealth. 

In  the  United  States,  as  in  all  other  civilized  countries,  the 
natural  order  of  economic  development  has  separated  society  into 
two  antagonistic  classes — the  capitalists,  a  comparatively  small  class, 
the  possessors  of  all  the  modern  means  of  production  and  distribu- 
tion (land,  mines,  machinery,  and  means  of  transportation  and  com- 
munication), and  the  large  and  ever  increasing  class  of  wage 
workers  possessing  no  means  of  production. 

This  economic  supremacy  has  secured  to  the  dominant  class  the 
full  control  of  the  Government,  the  pulpit,  the  schools  and  the  public 
press,  thereby  making  them  the  arbiters  of  the  fate  of  the  working 
class,  while  it  is  reducing  it  to  a  position  of  dependence,  economically 
exploited  and  oppressed,  intellectually  and  physically  crippled  and 
degraded,  and  its  political  equality  rendered  a  bitter  mockery ;  and 
the  contests  between  these  two  classes  grow  ever  sharper.  Hand  in 
hand  with  the  growth  of  monopolies  goes  the  annihilation  of  small 
industries  and  the  middle  class  depending  upon  them ;  ever  larger 
grows  the  multitude  of  destitute  wage  workers  and  of  the  unem- 
ployed, and  ever  fiercer  the  struggle  between  the  class  of  the  ex- 
ploiter and  the  exploited,  the  capitalists  and  the  wage  workers. 

The  evil  effects  of  capitalist  production  are  intensified  by  the 
recurring  industrial  crises,  continually  rendering  the  existence  of 
the  greater  part  of  the  population  more  precarious  and  uncertain, 
which  amply  proves  that  the  modern  means  of  production  have  out- 
grown the  existing  social  order  based  on  production  for  profit. 

Human  energy  and  natural  resources  are  wasted  for  individual 
gain. 

Ignorance  is  fostered  that  wage  slavery  may  be  perpetuated. 
Science  and  invention  are  perverted  to  the  exploitation  of  men,, 
women  and  children. 

404 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

The  lives  and  liberties  of  the  working  class  are  recklessly  sacri- 
ficed for  profit. 

Wars  are  fomented  between  nations;  indiscriminate  slaughter  is 
encouraged;  the  destruction  of  whole  races  is  sanctioned  in  order 
that  the  capitalist  class  may  extend  its  commercial  domain  abroad 
and  enhance  its  supremacy  at  home. 

The  introduction  of  a  new  and  higher  order  of  society  is  the 
historic  mission  of  the  working  class.  All  other  classes,  despite  their 
apparent  or  actual  conflicts,  are  interested  in  the  upholding  of  the 
system  of  private  ownership  of  the  means  of  production.  We,  there- 
fore, charge  that  in  this  country  the  Democratic,  Republican,  and  all 
other  parties  who  do  not  stand  for  the  complete  overthrow  of  the 
capitalist  system  of  production  are  alike  the  tools  of  the  capitalist 
class. 

The  working  class  cannot,  however,  act  as  a  class  in  its  struggle 
against  the  collective  power  of  the  capitalist  class  except  by  con- 
stituting itself  into  a  political  party,  distinct  and  opposed  to  all 
parties  formed  by  the  propertied  classes. 

We,  therefore,  call  upon  the  wage  workers  of  the  United  States, 
without  distinction  of  color,  race  or  sex,  and  upon  all  citizens  in 
sympathy  with  the  historic  mission  of  the  working  class  to  organize 
under  the  banner  of  the  Socialist  Labor  party,  as  a  party  truly 
representing  the  interests  of  the  toiling  masses  and  uncompro- 
misingly waging  war  upon  the  exploiting  class,  until  the  system  of 
wage  slavery  shall  be  abolished  and  the  Co-operative  Common- 
wealth shall  be  established. 

Pending  the  accomplishment  of  this  our  ultimate  purpose,  we 
pledge  every  effort  of  the  Socialist  Labor  party  for  the  immediate 
improvement  of  the  condition  of  labor,  and  also  for  the  securing 
of  its  progressive  demands. 

"Workingmen  of  all  countries,  unite!  You  have  nothing  to  lose 
but  your  chains,  and  a  world  to  gain !" 

The  regular  platform  was  supplemented  by  a  resolution 
sustaining  the  Typographical  Union  No.  6  in  its  warfare 
with  the  New  York  Sun,  and  appealed  to  those  engaged  in 
the  conflict  against  The  Sun  to  "use  in  this  fight  their  most 
powerful  weapon — the  class-conscience  ballot  of  revolution- 
ary socialism.'*  Thursday's  day  session  was  devoted  to  the 
discussion  of  rules  and  regulations  for  the  party  and 
various  resolutions  which  were  presented,  and  at  the  evening 
session  of  the  same  day  the  question  of  nominations  for 
President  and  Vice-President  was  taken  up.  An  animated 
debate  arose  as  to  whether  the  convention  should  nominate 
national  candidates  without  conference  with  the  Social 
Democratic  party,  but  it  was  finally  decided  that  the  best 
way  to  enforce  a  union  would  be  to  nominate  a  distinct 
ticket ;  and  Job  Harriman,  of  California,  was  unanimously 
nominated  for  President  and  Max  S.  Hayes,  of  Ohio, 

405 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

unanimously  nominated  for  Vice-President.  No  ballot  was 
had  for  either  place.  On  Friday  the  convention  held  its  last 
session  which  was  devoted  almost  wholly  to  the  discussion  of 
the  Constitution  and  laws  to  regulate  the  party.  A  motion 
was  adopted  to  raise  a  national  campaign  fund,  after  which 
thanks  were  given  to  the  officers  of  the  convention  when 
it  adjourned  without  day. 

While  the  national  convention  of  the  Socialist  Labor  party 
claimed  to  be  the  tenth  national  assembly  of  the  organiza- 
tion, a  small  portion  of  those  conventions  only  were  held 
in  Presidential  years.  This  organization  was  the  first 
Socialist  political  party  formed  in  the  country.  The  Social 
Democratic  party,  obviously  a  dissenting  element  of  the 
original  Socialist  organization,  held  its  first  national  con- 
vention at  Indianapolis  on  the  6th  of  March,  1900,  and  was 
in  session  four  days.  The  question  of  uniting  with  the 
Socialist  Labor  party  was  presented  by  the  committee  from 
its  national  convention,  and  occupied  a  large  portion  of  the 
sessions  of  the  body  in  earnest  discussion.  It  was  proposed 
that  the  Socialist  Labor  party,  claiming  150,000  followers, 
should  associate  with  the  Social  Democrats  and  accept  their 
candidates.  William  Mailly,  of  Massachusetts,  was  selected 
as  temporary  chairman.  No  permanent  chairman  was 
chosen,  as  a  new  man  was  called  to  preside  at  each  session 
of  the  convention.  Mr.  Carey,  of  Massachusetts,  wanted 
the  rules  and  order  of  business  to  be  amended,  requiring  a 
report  on  the  attitude  of  the  party  towards  the  Trades 
Unions,  and  it  was  adopted  by  acclamation.  The  report  of 
the  secretary  showed  that  there  were  226  branches  of  the 
organization,  with  a  membership  of  4526.  The  platform 
was  reported  by  Eugene  V.  Debs,  and  unanimously  adopted 
as  follows : 

T.  Revision  of  our  antiquated  Federal  Constitution,  in  order  to 
remove  the  obstacles  to  full  and  complete  control  of  Government 
by  all  the  people,  irrespective  of  sex. 

2.  The  public  ownership  of  all  industries  controlled  by  monopolies, 
trusts  and  combines. 

3.  The  public   ownership   of  all   railroads,    telegraph,    telephone, 
all  means  of  transportation,  communication,  water-works,  gas  and 
electric  plants,  and  other  public  utilities. 

4.  The  public  ownership  of  all  gold,   silver,   copper,   lead,   iron, 
coal  and  all  other  mines;  also  all  oil  and  gas  wells. 

5.  Reduction  of  the  hours  of  labor  in  proportion  to  the  increasing 
facilities  of  production. 

406 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

6.  The  inauguration  of  a  system  of  public  works  and  improvements 
for   the  employment   of  a   large   number  of   the   unemployed,   the 
public  credit  to  be  utilized  for  that  purpose. 

7.  All   useful   inventions  to  be   free  to  all,   the  inventor  to  be 
remunerated  by  the  public. 

8.  Labor  legislation  to  be  made  national   instead  of  local,   and 
international  where  possible. 

9.  National  insurance  of  working  people  against  accidents,  lack  of 
employment  and  want  in  old  age. 

10.  Equal  civil  and  political  rights  for  men  and  women,  and  the 
abolition  of  all  laws  discriminating  against  women. 

n.  The  adoption  of  the  initiative  and  referendum,  and  the  right 
to  recall  of  representatives  by  the  voters. 

12.  Abolition  of  war  as  far  as  the  United  States  are  concerned 
and  the  introduction  of  international  arbitration  instead. 

After  the  adoption  of  the  platform  Eugene  Victor  Debs, 
of  Indiana,  was  nominated  for  President,  and  Job  Harriman, 
of  California, — who  was  the  candidate  of  the  Socialist 
Labor  party  for  President, — was  nominated  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent ;  both  by  acclamation.  Mr.  Debs  refused  to  accept  the 
nomination  but  the  convention  refused  to  release  him,  and 
at  the  session  of  the  following  day  he  said :  "I  come  to  you 
this  afternoon  obedient  to  the  call  voiced  by  your  committee, 
to  say  that  I  accept  the  nomination  and  the  great  responsi- 
bility and  trust  which  it  imposes."  Mr.  Harriman,  the 
candidate  for  Vice-President,  was  introduced  to  the  con- 
vention and  accepted  the  nomination  for  the  second  place. 
Thus  the  two  leading  Socialist  political  organizations  were 
united. 

There  was  much  discussion  as  to  the  name  the  united 
party  should  adopt,  and  after  a  protracted  and  animated 
debate  the  name  of  Social  Democratic  party  was  accepted 
by  the  Socialist  Labor  people,  with  the  proviso  that  a  con- 
ference of  the  fusion  committees  should  meet  in  New  York, 
and  that  if  the  name  adopted  was  not  satisfactory  the  ques- 
tion of  the  title  of  the  party  should  be  submitted  to  a 
referendum  vote  of  both  organizations.  The  convention 
adjourned  singing  the  "Marseilles." 

A  little  coterie  of  the  more  radical  Socialists  known  as  the 
followers  of  De  Leon,  held  their  national  convention  in  New 
York,  June  2,  1900.  The  delegates  represented  19  States, 
some  of  them  with  only  a  single  delegate.  They  met  under 
the  name  of  the  Socialist  Labor  party,  evidently  intending 
to  repudiate  the  action  of  the  Social  Labor  party  at  the 

407 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Rochester  convention.  Thomas  Curran,  of  Rhode  Island, 
was  made  temporary  chairman,  and  Daniel  De  Leon  made 
permament  chairman  for  the  day. 

The  first  day  was  devoted  to  routine  affairs.  The  second 
day's  session,  being  Sunday,  was  devoted  to  radical  Socialist 
speeches  and  songs.  Monday's  session  was  given  up  to  the 
work  of  committees,  and  on  Tuesday  the  committee  on  plat- 
form made  its  report  that  was  adopted.  On  Wednesday  the 
convention  proceeded  to  nominate  candidates,  and  on  the 
first  ballot  Joseph  F.  Malloney,  of  Massachusetts,  was  nomi- 
nated for  President,  receiving  60  votes  to  17  for  Remmel, 
i  for  Hammond,  and  7  absent.  On  the  first  ballot  for  Vice- 
President  Valentine  Remmel,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  nomi- 
nated, receiving  69  votes  to  7  for  Hammond,  and  2  for 
Pepin.  Sessions  were  held  on  Thursday  and  Friday  de- 
voted largely  to  speechmaking,  and  the  convention  finally 
adjourned  sine  die  with  three  cheers  for  the  Socialist  Labor 
party,  after  having  adopted  the  following  platform  : 

The  Socialist  Labor  party  of  the  United  States,  in  convention 
assembled,  reasserts  the  inalienable  right  of  all  men  to  life,  liberty 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness. 

With  the  founders  of  the  American  Republic  we  hold  that  the 
purpose  of  government  is  to  secure  every  citizen  in  the  enjoyment 
of  this  right;  but  in  the  light  of  our  social  conditions  we  hold, 
furthermore,  that  no  such  right  can  be  exercised  under  a  system  of 
economic  inequality,  essentially  destructive  of  life,  of  liberty  and  of 
happiness. 

With  the  founders  of  this  Republic  we  hold  that  the  true  theory 
of  politics  is  that  the  machinery  of  government  must  be  owned  and 
controlled  by  the  whole  people;  but  in  the  light  of  our  industrial 
development  we  hold,  furthermore,  that  the  true  theory  of  economics 
is  that  the  machinery  of  production  must  likewise  belong  to  the 
people  in  common. 

To  the  obvious  fact  that  our  despotic  system  of  economics  is  the 
direct  opposite  of  our  democratic  system  of  politics,  can  plainly  be 
traced  the  existence  of  a  privileged  class,  the  corruption  of  govern- 
ment by  that  class,  the  alienation  of  public  property,  public  fran- 
chises and  public  functions  to  that  class,  and  the  abject  dependence 
of  the  mightiest  of  nations  upon  that  class. 

Again,  through  the  perversion  of  democracy  to  the  ends  of 
plutocracy,  labor  is  robbed  of  the  wealth  which  it  alone  produces, 
is  denied  the  means  of  self-employment,  and,  by  compulsory  idleness 
in  wage  slavery,  is  even  denied  the  necessaries  of  life. 

Human  power  and  natural  forces  are  thus  wasted,  that  the 
plutocracy  may  rule. 

Ignorance  and  misery,  with  all  their  concomitant  evils,  are  per- 
petuated, that  the  people  may  be  kept  in  bondage. 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

Science  and  invention  are  diverted  from  their  humane  purpose  to 
the  enslavement  of  women  and  children. 

Against  such  a  system  the  Socialist  Labor  party  once  more  enters 
its  protest.  Once  more  it  reiterates  its  fundamental  declaration  that 
private  property  in  the  natural  sources  of  production  and  in  the 
instruments  of  labor  is  the  obvious  cause  of  all  economic  servitude 
and  political  dependence. 

The  time  is  fast  coming  when,  in  the  natural  course  of  social 
evolution,  this  system,  through  the  destructive  action  of  its  failures 
and  crises  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  constructive  tendencies  of  its 
trusts  and  other  capitalistic  combinations  on  the  other  hand,  shall 
have  worked  out  its  own  downfall. 

We,  therefore,  call  upon  the  wage-workers  of  the  United  States, 
and  upon  all  other  honest  citizens,  to  organize  under  the  banner  of 
the  Socialist  Labor  party  into  a  class-conscious  body,  aware  of  its 
rights  and  determined  to  conquer  them  by  taking  possession  of  the 
public  powers ;  so  that,  held  together  by  an  indomitable  spirit  of 
solidarity  under  the  most  trying  conditions  of  the  present  class 
struggle,  we  may  put  a  summary  end  to  that  barbarous  struggle  by  the 
abolition  of  classes,  the  restoration  of  the  land  and  of  all  the  means 
of  production,  transportation  and  distribution  to  the  people  as  a 
collective  body,  and  the  substitution  of  the  Co-operative  Common- 
wealth for  the  present  state  of  planless  production,  industrial  war 
and  social  disorder ;  a  commonwealth  in  which  every  worker  shall 
have  the  free  exercise  and  full  benefit  of  his  faculties,  multiplied  by 
all  the  modern  factors  of  civilization. 

A  new  national  political  party  entered  the  Presidential 
field  by  a  convention  held  at  Rock  Island,  111.,  on  the  ist 
of  May,  1900,  as  the  United  Christian  party  whose  declared 
aim  is  to  secure  a  government  "in  His  name".  It  was  the 
first  national  assembly  of  the  Christian  Political  Union,  the 
call  for  which  was  issued  from  a  conference  held  in  Chicago 
in  December,  1899,  the  avowed  purpose  of  the  organization 
being — "The  application  of  the  Christ  principle  politically 
in  State  and  nation".  There  were  only  31  accredited  dele- 
gates including  a  small  percentage  of  women,  but  there  was 
a  large  local  and  general  attendance  during  the  sessions  of 
the  convention.  W.  R.  Benkert,  of  Iowa,  was  temporary 
and  permanent  president. 

The  first  day  of  the  convention  was  devoted  entirely  to 
speechmaking  denouncing  the  evils  of  intemperance,  the 
brutality  of  war,  and  demanding  universal  suffrage  for 
women  as  an  important  factor  in  bringing  about  better 
political  conditions.  Two  sessions  of  the  convention  were 
held  the  first  day,  and  the  evening  session  devoted  largely  to 
devotional  exercises  with  vocal  and  instrumental  music. 

On  the  second  day  the  convention  proceeded  to  nominate 

409 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

candidates  for  President  and  Vice-President.  Rev.  C.  M. 
Sheldon,  of  Kansas,  Rev.  R.  W.  Struble,  of  Illinois,  Rev. 
S.  C.  Swallow,  of  Pennsylvania,  Thomas  McClements,  of 
Iowa,  and  W.  R.  Benkert,  of  Iowa,  were  placed  in  nomina- 
tion. Mr.  Benkert  absolutely  declined  to  permit  the  use  of 
his  name,  and  Dr.  Struble  followed  with  a  declination  and 
urged  the  nomination  of  Rev.  Dr.  Swallow  in  a  speech  that 
stampeded  the  convention  and  gave  Swallow  the  nomination 
without  the  formality  of  a  ballot.  The  names  of  John  G. 
Woolley,  of  Illinois,  and  Booker  T.  Washington  were  pre- 
sented for  Vice-President,  but  the  name  of  Mr.  Washington 
was  withdrawn  and  Woolley  was  unanimously  nominated. 
The  following  platform  was  adopted : 

We,  the  United  Christian  party  in  national  convention  assembled 
in  the  City  of  Rock  Island,  111.,  on  May  I  and  2,  1900,  acknowledging 
Almighty  God  as  the  source  of  all  power  and  authority,  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  as  the  Sovereign  Ruler  of  nations,  and  the  Bible  as  the 
standard  by  which  to  decide  moral  issues  in  our  political  life,  do 
make  the  following  declaration : 

We  believe  the  time  to  have  arrived  when  the  eternal  principles 
of  justice,  mercy  and  love  as  exemplified  in  the  life  and  teachings  of 
Jesus  Christ^  should  be  embodied  in  the  Constitution  of  our  nation 
and  applied  in  concrete  form  to  every  function  of  our  Government. 

We  maintain  that  this  statement  is  in  harmony  with  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  our  national  common  law,  our  Christian  usages 
and  customs;  the  declaration  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  that  "This  is  a  Christian  Nation,"  and  the  accepted  principle 
in  judicial  decisions  that  no  law  should  contravene  the  Divine  law. 

We  deprecate  certain  immoral  laws  which  have  grown  out  of  the 
failure  of  our  nation  to  recognize  these  principles,  notably  such  as 
require  the  desecration  of  the  Christian  Sabbath,  authorize  un- 
Scriptural  marriage  and  divorce,  and  license  the  manufacture  and 
sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage. 

The  execution  of  these  immoral  laws  above  mentioned  we  hold  to 
be  neither  loyalty  to  our  country,  nor  honoring  to  God ;  therefore  it 
shall  be  our  purpose  to  administer  the  Government,  so  far  as  it  shall 
be  intrusted  to  us  by  the  suffrages  of  the  people,  in  accordance  with 
the  principles  herein  set  forth,  and  until  amended  our  oath  of  office 
shall  be  to  the  Constitution  and  laws  as  herein  explained  and  to  no 
other,  and  we  will  look  to  Him  who  has  all  power  in  Heaven  and 
in  earth  to  vindicate  our  purpose  in  seeking  His  glory  and  the 
welfare  of  our  beloved  land. 

We  declare  for  such  amendment  of  the  United  States  Constitution 
as  shall  be  necessary  to  give  the  principles  herein  set  forth  an 
undeniable  legal  basis  in  the  fundamental  law  of  our  land. 

As  an  expression  of  consent  or  allegiance  on  the  governed,  in 
as  shall  be  necessary  to  give  the  principles  herein  set  forth  an 
use  of  the  system  of  legislation  known  as  the  "initiative  and  referen- 
dum," together  with  "proportionate  representation"  and  the  im- 
perative mandate. 

410 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

We  hold  that  all  men  and  women  are  created  free  and  with  equal 
rights,  and  declare  for  the  establishment  of  such  political,  industrial 
and  social  conditions  as  shall  guarantee  to  every  person  civic 
equality,  the  full  fruits  of  his  or  her  honest  toil,  and  opportunity 
for  the  righteous  enjoyment  of  the  same,  and  we  especially  condemn 
mob  violence  and  outrages  against  any  individual  or  class  of  indi- 
viduals in  our  country. 

We  declare  against  war,  and  for  the  arbitration  of  all  national 
and  international  disputes. 

We  hold  that  the  legalized  liquor  traffic  is  the  crowning  infamy 
of  civilization,  and  we  declare  for  the  immediate  abolition  of  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage. 

We  are  gratified  to  note  the  wide-spread  agitation  of  the  cigarette 
question,  and  declare  ourselves  in  favor  of  the  enactment  of  laws 
prohibiting  the  sale  of  cigarettes  or  tobacco  in  any  form  to  minors. 

We  declare  for  the  daily  reading  of  the  Bible  in  the  public  schools 
and  institutions  of  learning  under  the  control  of  the  State. 

We  declare  for  the  Government  ownership  of  public  utilities. 

We  declare  for  the  election  of  the  President  and  Vice-President 
and  United  States  Senators  by  the  direct  vote  of  the  people. 

We  invite  into  the  United  Christian  party  every  honest  man  and 
woman  who  believes  in  Christ  and  His  golden  rule  and  standard  of 
righteousness.  We  say  specially  to  the  sons  of  toil:  Jesus,  the 
Carpenter's  son,  is  your  true  friend.  In  His  name  and  through  the 
practice  of  His  principles  you  may  obtain  all  your  rights  long  with- 
held and  long  outraged.  You  have  the  votes  necessary  to  enthrone 
Him.  His  love  and  principles  politically  applied  will  lift  you  up 
and  give  you  true  liberty  forever. 

The  Republican  national  convention  met  at  Philadelphia 
June  19,  1900,  with  every  State  fully  represented  and  a 
number  of  contested  delegations  from  the  SoutlO  The 
attendance  was  unusually  large  and  embraced  nearly  all  the 
leaders  of  the  party  of  national  fame.  It  was  conspicuously 
dominated  by  Senators.  Senator  Hanna  as  chairman  of  the 
national  committee,  called  the  convention  to  order,  and 
Senator  Wolcott  was  made  temporary  chairman  and  de- 
livered an  elaborate  address  that  had  been  prepared  and 
approved  as  a  campaign  document.  Senator  Lodge  was 
made  permanent  president,  who  also  delivered  a  carefully 
prepared  address  presenting  the  issues  involved  in  the  con- 
test. Senator  Fairbanks  was  chairman  of  the  committee  on 
resolutions  and  reported  the  platform.  Senator  Foraker 
presented  the  name  of  President  McKinley  for  renomination 
in  a  brief  but  eloquent  speech,  and  Senators  Thurston  and 
Depew  joined  Governor  Roosevelt  in  seconding  the  nomina- 
tion. The  only  interesting  political  incident  of  the  con- 
vention outside  of  the  nomination  of  candidates  for  President 

411 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

and  Vice-President,  came  from  Ex-Senator  Quay's  proposi- 
tion to  regulate  representation  in  national  conventions  by 
the  Republican  vote  polled  in  the  respective  States.  It  went 
over  for  the  day  and  was  then  withdrawn  by  Quay  himself. 
Senator  Platt  'was  one  of  the  controlling  factors  in  the 
selection  of  Roosevelt  for  Vice-President.  The  convention 
sat  for  three  days  and  all  the  sessions  were  brief,  as  no  dis- 
turbing question  was  precipitated  upon  the  body  for  dis- 
cussion and  decision. 

The  first  day's  session  ended  with  Wolcott's  speech  and 
the  appointment  of  the  usual  committees.  On  the  second 
day  Senator  Lodge  became  permanent  president,  and  nothing 
was  done  outside  of  routine  matters  beyond  the  adoption  of 
the  platform,  that  was  reported  by  Senator  Fairbanks  and 
accepted  without  discussion  or  a  dissenting  vote.  An  ad- 
journment was  agreed  to  because  it  was  expected  to  bring 
about  a  complete  understanding  on  the  subject  of  the  Vice- 
Presidency.  There  was  no  dispute  as  to  McKinley's  nomi- 
nation, but  earnest  efforts  were  made  for  and  against  the 
nomination  of  Governor  Roosevelt,  with  Roosevelt  himself 
consistently  opposing  his  own  candidacy.  During  the  night 
of  the  second  day,  it  became  evident  to  all  that  the  convention 
wanted  to  nominate  Governor  Roosevelt  for  Vice-President, 
and  at  midnight  Chairman  Hanna  gave  out  the  statement 
for  the  public  that  all  had  agreed  upon  Roosevelt.  The 
result  was  that  the  convention,  when  it  met  on  the  third  day, 
had  really  nothing  to  do  but  to  ratify  the  nominations  already 
unanimously  agreed  upon.  The  roll-call  was  made  for  both 
President  and  Vice-President,  and  McKinley  received  926 
votes  for  President,  being  the  entire  vote  of  the  convention, 
and  Roosevelt  received  925  votes  for  Vice-President,  being 
one  less  than  McKinley  for  the  reason  that  Roosevelt,  who 
was  a  delegate,  declined  to  have  his  vote  recorded  for  him- 
self. One  of  the  notable  features  of  the  convention  was  the 
opening  prayer  delivered  on  the  morning  of  the  third  day 
by  Archbishop  Ryan.  The  convention  adjourned  with 
heartiest  cheers  for  the  ticket.  The  following  is  the  plat- 
form as  unanimously  adopted  by  the  convention : 

The  Republicans  of  the  United  States  through  their  chosen  repre- 
sentatives met  in  national  convention,  looking  back  upon  an  unsur- 
passed record  of  achievement  and  looking  forward  into  a  great  field 
of  duty  and  opportunity,  and  appealing  to  the  judgment  of  their 
countrymen,  make  these  declarations: 

412 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

The  expectation  in  which  the  American  people,  turning  from  the 
Democratic  party,  entrusted  power  four  years  ago  to  a  Republican 
Chief  Magistrate  and  a  Republican  Congress,  has  been  met  and 
satisfied.  When  the  people  then  assembled  at  the  polls,  after  a 
term  of  Democratic  legislation  and  administration,  business  was 
dead,  industry  paralyzed  and  the  national  credit  disastrously  im- 
paired. 

The  country's  capital  was  hidden  away  and  its  labor  distressed 
and  unemployed.  The  Democrats  had  no  other  plan  with  which 
to  improve  the  ruinous  conditions,  which  they  had  themselves  pro- 
duced, than  to  coin  silver  at  the  ratio  of  16  to  i.  The  Republican 
party,  denouncing  this  plan  as  sure  to  produce  conditions  even  worse 
than  those  from  which  relief  was  sought,  promised  to  restore  pros- 
perity by  means  of  two  legislative  measures — a  protective  tariff  and 
a  law  making  gold  the  standard  of  value.  The  people  by  great 
majorities  issued  to  the  Republican  party  a  commission  to  enact 
these  laws. 

This  commission  has  been  executed,  and  the  Republican  promise 
is  redeemed.  Prosperity  more  general  and  more  abundant  than  we 
have  ever  known  has  followed  these  enactments.  There  is  no  longer 
controversy  as  to  the  status  of  any  Government  obligations.  Every 
American  dollar  is  a  gold  dollar  or  its  assured  equivalent,  and 
American  credit  stands  higher  than  that  of  any  nation. 

Capital  is  fully  employed  and  labor  everywhere  is  profitably 
occupied.  No  single  factor  more  strikingly  tells  the  story  of  what 
Republican  government  means  to  the  country  than  this — that  during 
the  whole  period  of  107  years  from  1790  to  1897,  there  was  an 
excess  of  exports  over  imports  of  only  $383,028.497.  There  has  been 
in  the  short  three  years  of  the  present  Republican  administration 
an  excess  of  exports  over  imports  in  the  enormous  sum  of  $1,483,- 
537-094- 

And  while  the  American  people  sustained  by  this  Republican 
legislation  have  been  achieving  these  splendid  triumphs  in  their 
business  in  commerce,  they  have  conducted  and  in  victory  con- 
cluded a  war  for  liberty  and  human  rights.  No  thought  of  national 
aggrandizement  tarnished  the  high  purpose  with  which  American 
standards  were  unfurled. 

It  was  a  war  unsought  and  patiently  resisted,  but  when  it  came 
the  American  Government  was  ready.  Its  fleets  were  cleared  for 
action.  Its  armies  were  in  the  field,  and  the  quick  and  signal 
triumph  of  its  forces  on  land  and  sea  bore  equal  tribute  to  the 
courage  of  American  soldiers  and  sailors  and  to  the  skill  and  fore- 
sight of  Republican  statesmanship.  To  ten  millions  of  the  human 
race  there  was  given  "a  new  birth  of  freedom,"  and  to  the  American 
people  a  new  and  noble  responsibility. 

We  indorse  the  administration  of  William  McKinley.  Its  acts 
have  been  established  in  wisdom  and  in  patriotism,  and  at  home 
and  abroad  it  has  distinctly  elevated  and  extended  the  influence  of 
the  American  nation.  Walking  untried  paths  and  facing  unforeseen 
responsibilities,  President  McKinley  has  been  in  every  situation  the 
true  American  patriot  and  the  upright  statesman,  clear  in  vision, 
strong  in  judgment,  firm  in  action,  always  inspiring  and  deserving 
the  confidence  of  his  countrymen. 

413 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

In  asking  the  American  people  to  indorse  this  Republican  record 
and  party,  we  remind  them  of  the  fact  that  the  menace  to  their 
prosperity  has  always  resided  in  Democratic  principles  and  no  less 
in  the  general  incapacity  of  the  Democratic  party  to  conduct  public 
affairs. 

The  prime  essential  of  business  prosperity  is  public  confidence  in 
the  good  sense  of  the  government  and  in  its  ability  to  deal  intel- 
ligently with  each  new  problem  of  administration  and  legislation. 
That  confidence  the  Democratic  party  has  never  earned.  It  is  hope- 
lessly inadequate,  and  the  country's  prosperity  when  Democratic 
success  at  the  polls  is  announced  halts  and  ceases  in  mere  antici- 
pation of  Democratic  blunders  and  failures. 

We  renew  our  allegiance  to  the  principle  of  the  gold  standard  and 
declare  our  confidence  in  the  wisdom  of  the  legislation  of  the 
Fifty-sixth  Congress  by  which  the  parity  of  all  our  money  and  the 
stability  of  our  currency  upon  a  gold  basis  has  been  secured.  We 
recognize  that  the  Democrats  are  a  potent  factor  in  production  and 
business  activity,  and  for  the  purpose  of  further  equalizing  and  of 
further  lowering  the  rate  of  interest,  we  favor  such  monetary  legis- 
lation as  will  enable  the  varying  needs  of  the  season  and  of  all 
sections  to  be  promptly  met  in  order  that  trade  may  be  evenly  sus- 
tained, labor  steadily  employed,  and  commerce  enlarged.  The 
volume  of  money  in  circulation  was  never  so  great  per  capita  as  it 
is  to-day.  We  declare  our  steadfast  opposition  to  the  free  and  un- 
limited coinage  of  silver. 

No  measure  to  that  end  could  be  considered  which  was  without 
the  support  of  the  leading  commercial  countries  of  the  world. 

However  firmly  Republican  legislation  may  seem  to  have  secured 
the  country  against  the  peril  of  base  and  discredited  currency,  the 
election  of  a  Democratic  President  could  not  fail  to  impair  the 
country's  credit  and  to  bring  once  more  into  question  the  intention 
of  the  American  people  to  maintain  upon  the  gold  standard  the 
parity  of  their  money  circulation. 

The  Democratic  party  must  be  convinced  that  the  American 
people  will  never  tolerate  the  Chicago  platform. 

We  recognize  the  necessity  and  propriety  of  the  honest  operation 
of  capital  to  meet  new  business  conditions,  and  especially  to  extend 
our  rapidly  increasing  foreign  trade,  but  we  condemn  all  conspiracies 
and  combinations  intended  to  restrict  business,  to  create  monopolies, 
to  limit  production,  or  to  control  prices,  and  favor  such  legislation 
as  will  effectively  restrain  and  prevent  all  such  abuses,  protect  and 
promote  competition,  and  secure  the  rights  of  producers,  laborers, 
and  all  who  are  engaged  in  industry  and  commerce. 

We  renew  our  faith  in  the  policy  of  protection  to  American  labor. 
In  that  policy  our  industries  have  been  established,  diversified  and 
maintained.  By  protecting  the  home  market  competition  has  been 
stimulated  and  production  cheapened. 

Opportunity  to  the  inventive  genius  of  our  people  has  been 
secured  and  wages  in  every  department  of  labor  maintained  at  high 
rates,  higher  now  than  ever  before,  and  always  distinguishing  our 
working  people  in  their  better  condition  of  life  from  those  of  any 
competing  country. 

Enjoying  the  blessings  of  the  American  common  school,  secure  in 

414 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

the  right  of  self-government,  and  protected  in  the  occupancy  of 
their  own  markets,  their  constantly  increasing  knowledge  and  skill 
have  enabled  them  finally  to  enter  the  markets  of  the  world. 

We  favor  the  associated  policy  of  reciprocity,  so  directed  as  to 
open  our  markets  on  favorable  terms  for  what  we  do  not  ourselves 
produce  in  return  for  free  foreign  markets. 

In  the  further  interest  of  American  workmen  we  favor  a 
more  effective  restriction  of  the  immigration  of  cheap  labor  from 
foreign  lands,  the  extension  of  opportunities  of  education  for  work- 
ing children,  the  raising  of  the  age-limit  for  child  labor,  the  pro- 
tection of  free  labor  as  against  contract  convict  labor,  and  an  effec- 
tive system  of  labor  insurance. 

Our  present  dependence  on  foreign  shipping  for  nine-tenths  of 
our  foreign  carrying  is  a  great  loss  to  the  industry  of  this  country. 
It  is  also  a  serious  danger  to  our  trade,  for  its  sudden  withdrawal 
in  the  event  of  European  war  would  seriously  cripple  our  expanding 
foreign  commerce. 

The  national  defence  and  naval  efficiency  of  this  country,  more- 
over, supply  a  compelling  reason  for  legislation  which  will  enable 
us  to  recover  our  former  place  among  the  trade-carrying  fleets  of 
the  world. 

The  nation  owes  a  debt  of  profound  gratitude  to  the  soldiers  and 
sailors  who  have  fought  its  battles,  and  it  is  the  Government's  duty 
to  provide  for  the  survivors  and  for  the  widows  and  orphans  of  those 
who  have  fallen  in  the  country's  wars. 

The  pension  laws,  founded  on  this  just  sentiment,  should  be  liberal, 
and  should  be  liberally  administered,  and  preference  should  be  given 
wherever  practicable  with  respect  to  employment  in  the  public 
service  to  soldiers  and  sailors  and  to  their  widows  and  orphans. 

We  commend  the  policy  of  the  Republican  party  in  maintaining 
the  efficiency  of  the  civil  service.  The  administration  has  acted 
wisely  in  its  efforts  to  secure  for  public  service  in  Cuba,  Porto  Rico, 
Hawaii  and  the  Philippine  Islands  only  those  whose  fitness  has  been 
determined  by  training  and  experience. 

We  believe  that  employment  in  the  public  service  in  these  terri- 
tories should  be  confined  as  far  as  practicable  to  their  inhabitants. 

It  was  the  plain  purpose  of  the  fifteenth  amendment  to  the  Con- 
stitution to  prevent  discrimination  on  account  of  race  or  color  in 
regard  to  the  elective  franchise.  Devices  of  State  governments, 
whether  by  statutory  or  constitutional  enactment,  to  avoid  the  pur- 
pose of  this  amendment,  are  revolutionary  and  should  be  condemned. 
Public  movements  looking  to  a  permanent  improvement  of  the  roads 
and  highways  of  the  country  meet  with  our  cordial  approval,  and 
•we  recommend  this  subject  to  the  earnest  consideration  of  the  people 
and  of  the  Legislatures  of  the  several  States. 

We  favor  the  extension  of  the  rural  free  delivery  service  wherever 
its  extension  may  be  justified. 

In  further  pursuance  of  the  constant  policy  of  the  Republican 
party  to  provide  free  homes  on  the  public  domain,  we  recommend 
adequate  national  legislation  to  reclaim  the  arid  lands  of  the  United 
States,  reserving  control  of  the  distribution  of  water  for  irrigation 
to  the  respective  States  and  Territories. 

38  415 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

We  favor  home  rule  for  and  the  early  admission  to  Statehood  of 
the  Territories  of  New  Mexico,  Arizona  and  Oklahoma. 

The  Dingley  act  amended  to  provide  sufficient  revenue  for  the  con- 
duct of  the  war  has  so  well  performed  its  work  that  it  has  been  possible 
to  reduce  the  war  debt  in  the  sum  of  $40,000,000.  So  ample  are  the 
Government's  revenues  and  so  great  is  the  public  confidence  in  the 
integrity  of  its  obligations  that  its  newly  funded  2  per  cent  bonds 
sell  at  a  premium.  The  country  is  now  justified  in  expecting  that 
it  will  be  the  policy  of  the  Republican  party  to  bring  about  a  reduc- 
tion of  the  war  taxes. 

We  favor  the  construction,  ownership,  control  and  protection  of 
an  isthmian  canal  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  New 
markets  are  necessary  for  the  increasing  surplus  of  our  farm 
products. 

Every  effort  should  be  made  to  open  and  obtain  new  markets, 
especially  in  the  Orient,  and  the  administration  is  warmly  to  be 
commended  for  its  successful  effort  to  commit  all  trading  and 
colonizing  nations  to  the  policy  of  the  open  door  in  China.  In  the 
interest  of  our  expanding  commerce  we  recommend  that  Congress 
create  a  Department  of  Commerce  and  Industries  in  the  charge 
of  a  Secretary,  with  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet. 

The  United  States  consular  system  should  be  reorganized  under 
the  supervision  of  this  new  department,  upon  such  a  basis  of  appoint- 
ment and  tenure  as  will  render  it  still  more  serviceable  to  the 
nation's  increasing  trade.  The  American  Government  must  protect 
the  person  and  property  of  every  citizen  whenever  they  are  wrong- 
fully placed  in  peril. 

We  congratulate  the  women  of  America  upon  their  splendid  record 
of  public  service  in  the  volunteer  aid  association,  and  as  nurses  in 
camp  and  hospital  during  the  recent  campaigns  of  our  armies  in  the 
Eastern  and  Western  Indies,  and  we  appreciate  their  faithful  co- 
operation in  all  works  of  education  and  industry. 

President  McKinley  has  conducted  the  foreign  affairs  of  the  United 
States  with  distinguished  credit  to  American  people.  In  releasing 
us  from  the  vexatious  conditions  of  a  European  alliance  for  the 
government  of  Samoa  his  course  is  especially  to  be  commended. 
By  securing  to  our  undivided  control  the  most  important  island  of 
the  Samoan  group  and  the  best  harbor  in  the  Southern  Pacific, 
every  American  interest  has  been  safeguarded.  We  commend  the 
part  taken  by  our  Government  in  the  Peace  Conference  at  The 
Hague. 

We  assert  our  steadfast  adherence  to  the  policy  announced  in 
the  Monroe  doctrine.  The  provisions  of  The  Hague  convention 
were  wisely  regarded  when  President  McKinley  tendered  his  friendly 
offices  in  the  interest  of  peace  between  Great  Britain  and  the  South 
African  Republics. 

While  the  American  Government  must  continue  the  policy  pre- 
scribed by  Washington,  affirmed  by  every  succeeding  President,  and 
imposed  upon  us  by  The  Hague  treaty,  of  non-intervention  in  Euro- 
pean controversies,  the  American  people  earnestly  hope  that  a  way 
may  soon  be  found,  honorable  alike  to  both  contending  parties,  to 
terminate  the  strife  between  them. 

In  accepting,  by  the  treaty  of  Paris,  the  just  responsibility  of  our 

416 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

victories  in  the  Spanish  war,  the  President  and  the  Senate  won  the 
undoubted  approval  of  the  American  people.  No  other  course  was 
possible  than  to  destroy  Spain's  sovereignty  throughout  the  Western 
Indies  and  in  the  Philippine  Islands.  The  course  created  our  re- 
sponsibility before  the  world,  and  with  the  unorganized  population 
whom  our  intervention  had  freed  from  Spain,  to  provide  for  the 
maintenance  of  law  and  order,  and  for  the  establishment  of  good 
government  and  for  the  performance  of  international  obligations. 

Our  authority  could  not  be  less  than  our  responsibility,  and 
wherever  sovereign  rights  were  extended  it  became  the  high  duty 
of  the  Government  to  maintain  its  authority,  to  put  down  armed 
insurrection,  and  to  confer  the  blessings  of  liberty  and  civilization 
upon  all  the  rescued  people. 

The  largest  measure  of  self-government  consistent  with  their 
welfare  and  our  duties  shall  be  secured  to  them  by  law.  To  Cuba, 
independence  and  self-government  were  assured  in  the  same  voice 
by  which  war  was  declared,  and  to  the  letter  this  pledge  shall  be 
performed. 

The  Republican  party,  upon  its  history  and  upon  this  declaration 
of  its  principles  and  policies,  confidently  invokes  the  considerate  and 
approving  judgment  of  the  American  people. 

The  Prohibition  national  convention  met  at  Chicago,  June 
27,  1900,  and  was  very  largely  attended.  Samuel  Dickie, 
of  Michigan,  was  temporary  and  permanent  president.  The 
first  day  was  devoted  wholly  to  organization  and  the 
adoption  of  a  platform,  and  on  the  second  day  there  was  a 
very  spirited  contest  for  the  Presidential  nomination  between 
John  G.  Woolley,  of  Illinois,  and  Rev.  Dr.  S.  C.  Swallow, 
of  Pennsylvania.  Dr.  Swallow  had  already  been  nominated 
by  the  Christian  Union  party,  a  new  organization  with  very 
little  popular  following,  and  his  friends  urged  his  nomina- 
tion not  only  because  he  was  already  in  the  field  as  the 
candidate  of  a  party  in  sympathy  with  the  Prohibitionists, 
but  because  of  his  experience  in  political  contests  in  his 
native  State.  The  nomination  was  decided  on  the  first 
ballot  when  Woolley  received  380  votes  to  320  for  Swallow. 
The  nomination  for  Vice-President  would  have  been 
unanimously  tendered  to  Dr.  Swallow  but  he  peremptorily 
declined. 

Three  candidates  were  presented  for  Vice-President,  viz : 
Henry  E.  Metcalfe,  of  Rhode  Island,  Thomas  S.  Caskarden, 
of  West  Virginia,  and  Dr.  E.  L.  Eaton,  of  Iowa.  On  the 
first  ballot  Metcalfe  received  349  votes  to  132  for  Caskarden 
and  113  for  Eaton.  The  nominations  of  Woolley  and  Met- 
calfe were  made  unanimous.  The  following  platform  was 
adopted  without  a  formal  vote : 

417 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

The  National  Prohibition  party,  in  convention,  represented  at 
Chicago,  June  27  and  28,  1900,  acknowledge  Almighty  God  as  the 
supreme  source  of  all  just  government,  realizing  that  this  Republic 
was  founded  upon  Christian  principles,  and  can  endure  only  as  it 
embodies  justice  and  righteousness,  and  asserting  that  all  authority 
should  seek  the  best  good  of  all  the  governed,  to  this  end  wisely 
prohibiting  what  is  wrong  and  permitting  only  what  is  right,  hereby 
records  and  proclaims: 

First.  We  accept  and  assert  the  definition  given  by  Edmund 
Burke  that  "a  party  is  a  body  of  men  joined  together  for  the  purpose 
of  promoting  by  their  joint  endeavor  the  national  interest  upon  some 
particular  principle  on  which  they  are  all  agreed."  We  declare  that 
there  is  no  principle  now  advocated  by  any  other  party  which  could 
be  made  a  fact  in  government  in  such  beneficent  moral  and 
material  results  as  the  principle  of  prohibition  applied  to  the 
beverage  liquor  traffic;  that  the  national  interest  could  be  promoted 
in  no  other  way  so  surely  and  widely  as  by  its  assertion,  through  a 
national  policy  and  the  co-operation  therein  of  every  State,  forbid- 
ding the  manufacture,  sale,  exportation,  importation  and  transporta- 
tion of  intoxicating  liquors  for  beverage  purposes ;  that  we  stand  for 
this  as  the  only  principle  proposed  by  any  party  anywhere  for  the 
settlement  of  a  question  greater  and  graver  than  any  other  before 
the  American  people,  and  involving  more  profoundly  than  any  other 
their  moral,  future  and  financial  welfare;  and  that  all  the  patriotic 
citizenship  of  this  country,  agreed-  upon  this  principle,  however 
much  disagreement  there  may  be  upon  minor  considerations  and 
issues,  should  stand  together  at  the  ballot  box,  from  this  time 
forward,  until  prohibition  is  the  established  law  of  the  United  States, 
with  a  party  in  power  to  enforce  it  and  to  ensure  its  moral  and 
material  benefits. 

We  insist  that  such  a  party,  agreed  upon  this  principle  and  policy, 
having  sober  leadership,  without  any  obligation  for  success  to  the 
saloon  vote  and  to  those  demoralizing  political  combinations  of  men 
and  money  now  allied  therewith  and  suppliant  thereto,  could  suc- 
cessfully cope  with  all  other  and  lesser  problems  of  government  in 
legislative  halls  and  in  the  legislative  chair,  and  that  it  is  useless 
for  any  party  to  make  declarations  in  its  platform  as  to  any  questions 
concerning  which  there  may  be  serious  differences  of  opinion  in 
its  own  membership  and  as  to  which,  because  of  such  difference, 
the  party  could  legislate  only  on  a  basis  of  mutual  concessions  when 
coming  into  power. 

We  submit  that  the  Democratic  and  Republican  parties  are  alike 
insincere  in  their  assumed  policy  to  trusts  and  monopolies.  They 
dare  not  and  do  not  attack  the  most  dangerous  of  them  all,  the 
liquor  power.  So  long  as  the  saloon  debauches  the  citizen  and 
breeds  the  purchasable  voter  money  will  continue  to  buy  its  way  to 
power.  Break  down  this  traffic,  elevate  manhood  and  a  sober 
citizenship  will  find  a  way  to  control  dangerous  combinations  of 
capital. 

We  propose  as  a  first  step  in  the  financial  problems  of  the  nation 
to  save  more  than  a  billion  of  dollars  every  year  now  annually 
expended  to  support  the  liquor  traffic  and  to  demoralize  our  people. 
When  that  is  accomplished,  conditions  will  have  so  improved  that 

418 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

with  a  clearer  atmosphere  the  country  can  address  itself  to  the 
questions  as  to  kind  and  quantity  of  currency  needed. 

Second.  We  reaffirm  as  true,  indisputably,  the  declaration  of 
William  Windom,  when  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in  the  Cabinet  of 
President  Arthur,  that  "considered  socially,  financially,  politically 
or  morally,  the  licensed  liquor  traffic  is  or  ought  to  be  the  over- 
whelming issue  in  American  politics,"  and  that  "the  destruction  of 
this  iniquity  stands  next  on  the  calendar  of  the  world's  progress." 
We  hold  that  the  existence  of  our  party  presents  this  issue  squarely 
to  the  American  people,  and  lays  upon  them  the  responsibility  of 
choice  between  liquor  parties,  nominated  by  distillers  and  brewers, 
with  their  policy  of  saloon  perpetuation,  breeding  waste,  wickedness, 
woe,  pauperism,  taxation,  corruption  and  crime  and  our  one  party 
of  patriotic  and  moral  principle,  with  a  policy  which  defends  it  from 
domination  by  corrupt  bosses  and  which  insures  it  forever  against 
the  blighting  control  of  saloon  politics. 

We  face  with  sorrow,  shame  and  fear  the  awful  fact  that  this 
liquor  traffic  has  a  grip  on  our  Government,  municipal,  State  and 
National,  through  the  revenue  system  and  saloon  sovereignty, 
which  no  other  party  dares  to  dispute ;  a  grip  which  dominates  the 
party  now  in  power,  from  caucus  to  Congress,  from  policeman  to 
President,  from  the  rumshop  to  the  White  House,  a  grip  which 
compels  the  Chief  Executive  to  consent  that  law  shall  be  nullified 
in  behalf  of  the  brewer;  that  the  canteen  shall  curse  our  army 
and  spread  intemperance  across  the  seas,  and  that  our  flag  shall 
wave  as  the  symbol  of  partnership,  at  home  and  abroad,  between  this 
Government  and  the  men  who  defy  and  define  it  for  their  own 
profit  and  gain. 

Third.  We  charge  upon  President  McKinley,  who  was  selected  to 
his  high  office  by  appeals  to  Christian  sentiment  and  patriotism 
almost  unprecedented  and  by  a  combination  of  moral  influences 
never  before  seen  in  this  country,  that,  by  his  conspicuous  example 
as  a  wine-drinker  at  public  banquets,  and  as  a  wine-serving  host  in 
the  White  House,  he  has  done  more  to  encourage  the  liquor  business, 
to  demoralize  the  temperance  habits  of  the  young  men  and  to  bring 
Christian  practices  and  requirements  into  disrepute,  than  any  other 
President  this  Republic  has  had.  We  further  charge  upon  President 
McKinley  responsibility  for  the  army  canteen,  with  all  its  dire  brood 
of  disease,  immorality,  sin  and  death,  in  this  country,  in  Cuba,  in 
Porto  Rico  and  the  Philippines,  and  we  insist  that  by  his  attitude 
concerning  the  canteen  and  his  apparent  contempt  for  the  vast 
number  of  petitions  and  petitioners  protesting  against  it,  he  has 
outraged  and  insulted  the  moral  sentiment  of  this  country,  in  such 
a  manner,  and  to  such  a  degree,  as  calls  for  its  righteous  uprising 
and  his  indignant  and  effective  rebuke. 

We  challenge  denial  of  the  fact  that  our  Executive,  as  Com- 
mander-in-Chief  of  the  military  forces  of  the  United  States,  at  any 
time  prior  to  or  since  March  2,  1899,  could  have  closed  every  army 
saloon,  called  a  canteen,  by  executive  order,  as  President  Hayes 
did  before  him,  and  should  have  closed  them  for  the  same  reasons 
which  actuated  President  Hayes ;  we  assert  that  the  Act  of  Congress 
passed  March  2,  1899,  forbidding  the  sale  of  liquors  "in  any  post, 
exchange  or  canteen,"  by  any  "officer  or  private  soldier"  or  by  "any 

419 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

other  person,"  "on  any  premises  used  for  military  purposes  in  the 
United  States,"  was  and  is  as  explicit  an  act  of  prohibition  as  the 
English  language  can  frame;  we  declare  our  solemn  belief  that  the 
Attorney  General  of  the  United  States  in  his  interpretation  of  that 
law,  and  the  Secretary  of  War  in  his  acceptance  of  that  interpretation 
and  his  refusal  to  enforce  the  law,  were  and  are  guilty  of  treasonable 
nullification  thereof,  and  that  President  McKinley,  through  his 
assent  to  and  endorsement  of  such  interpretation  and  refusal  on  the 
part  of  the  officials  appointed  by  and  responsible  to  him,  shares 
responsibility  in  their  guilt,  and  we  record  our  conviction  that  a  new 
and  serious  peril  confronts  our  country,  in  the  fact  that  its 
President,  at  the  behest  of  the  beer  power,  dare  and  does  abrogate 
a  law  of  Congress,  through  subordinates  removable  at  will  by  him, 
and  whose  acts  become  his,  and  thus  virtually  confesses  that  laws 
are  to  be  administered,  or  to  be  nullified,  in  the  interest  of  a  law- 
defying  business,  by  an  Administration  under  mortgage  to  such 
business  for  support. 

Fourth.  We  deplore  the  fact  that  an  Administration  of  this 
Republic,  claiming  the  right  and  power  to  carry  our  flag  across 
the  seas  and  to  conquer  and  annex  new  territory,  should  admit  its 
lack  of  power  to  prohibit  the  American  saloon  on  subjugated  soil, 
or  should  openly  confess  itself  subject  to  liquor  sovereignty  under 
that  flag.  We  are  humiliated,  exasperated  and  grieved  by  the  evi- 
dence painfully  abundant  that  this  Administration's  policy  of  ex- 
pansion is  bearing  so  rapidly  its  fruits  of  drunkenness,  insanity  and 
crime,  under  the  hot-house  sun  of  the  tropics,  and  when  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  first  Philippine  Commission  says  "it  was  unfortunate 
that  we  introduced  and  established  the  saloon  there  to  corrupt  the 
natives  and  to  exhibit  the  vices  of  pur  race."  We  charge  the  in- 
humanity, and  un-Christianity  of  this  act  upon  the  Administration 
of  President  McKinley,  and  upon  the  party  which  elected  and  would 
perpetuate  the  same. 

Fifth.  We  declare  that  the  only  policy  which  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  can  of  right  adopt  as  to  the  liquor  traffic,  under 
the  National  Constitution,  upon  any  territory  under  the  military 
or  civil  control  of  that  Government,  is  the  policy  of  prohibition ; 
that  "to  establish  justice,  secure  domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for 
the  common  defense,  promote  the  general  welfare  and  insure  the 
blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity,"  as  the  Con- 
stitution provides,  the  liquor  traffic  must  neither  be  sanctioned  nor 
tolerated,  and  that  the  revenue  policy,  which  makes  our  Government 
a  partner  with  distillers  and  brewers  and  bar-keepers,  is  a  disgrace 
to  our  civilization,  an  outrage  upon  humanity  and  a  crime  against 
God. 

We  condemn  the  present  administration  at  Washington  because  it 
has  repealed  the  prohibitory  laws  in  Alaska  and  because  it  has 
entered  upon  a  license  policy  in  our  new  possessions  by  incor- 
porating the  same  in  the  recent  act  of  Congress  in  the  code  of  laws 
for  the  government  of  the  Hawaiian  islands. 

The  exportation  of  liquors  from  the  United  States  to  the  Philip- 
pine islands  increased  from  $337  in  1898  to  $467,198  in  the  first  ten 
months  of  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  I,  1900;  and  those  to  Cuba 
from  $30,000  a  year  to  $629,655  a  year. 

42O 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

We  declare  ourselves  justified  in  expecting  that  Christian  voters 
everywhere  shall  cease  their  complicity  with  the  liquor  curse  by 
refusing  to  uphold  a  liquor  party.  We  insist  that  no  differences  of 
belief  as  to  any  other  question  or  concern  of  government  should 
stand  in  the  way  of  such  a  union  of  moral  and  Christian  citizenship 
as  we  hereby  invite  for  the  speedy  settlement  of  this  paramount 
moral,  industrial,  financial  and  political  issue  which  our  party  pre- 
sents;  and  we  refrain  from  declaring  ourselves  upon  all  minor 
matters  as  to  which  differences  of  opinion  may  exist,  that  hereby  we 
may  offer  to  the  American  people  a  platform  so  broad  that  all  can 
stand  upon  it  who  desire  to  see  sober  citizenship  actually  sovereign 
over  the  allied  hosts  of  evil,  sin  and  crime  in  a  government  of  the 
people,  by  the  people  and  for  the  people. 

We  declare  that  there  are  but  two  real  parties  to-day  concerning 
the  liquor  traffic — perpetuationists  and  prohibitionists — and  that 
patriotism,  Christianity  and  every  interest  of  genuine  republicanism 
and  pure  democracy  requires  the  speedy  union  in  one  solid  phalanx 
at  the  ballot-box  of  all  who  oppose  the  liquor  traffic's  perpetuation 
and  who  covet  endurance  for  this  Republic. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  this  Convention  that  the  right  of 
the  ballot  not  be  denied  any  citizen  on  account  of  sex. 

Two  conventions  were  called  to  meet  at  Kansas  City 
July  4,  1900,  viz:  the  Democratic  and  the  Free-Silver  Re- 
publican. The  conventions  were  called  to  meet  at  the  same 
place  and  time  because  it  was  well  understood  that  they 
would  harmonize  at  least  on  the  candidate  for  President 
and  probably  upon  the  entire  national  ticket.  As  the  Silver 
Republicans  are  a  mere  appendage  of  the  Bryan  party,  their 
convention  took  no  important  action  until  the  Democrats 
had  finished  their  work.  The  Democratic  convention  was 
very  largely  attended,  every  State  and  Territory  being  repre- 
sented, including  Hawaii,  and  it  was  little  more  than  an 
enthusiastic  mass  meeting  to  make  William  Jennings  Bryan 
President.  Governor  Thomas,  of  Colorado,  was  made 
temporary  chairman,  and  Representative  J.  D.  Richardson, 
of  Tennessee,  was  permanent  president.  Mr.  Bryan  was 
at  his  home  in  Lincoln,  Nebraska,  but  was  in  constant  com- 
munication with  his  Democratic  leaders  at  Kansas  City,  and 
was  visited  by  a  number  of  individuals  and  delegations  who 
desired  to  impress  upon  him  the  necessity  of  some  particular 
action  relating  to  the  Vice-Presidency  or  to  the  platform. 

There  were  two  vital  points  of  dispute  between  the 
Democratic  leaders.  The  most  important  related  to  the 
distinct  reiteration  of  the  free-silver  policy  to  be  maintained 
at  the  ratio  of  16  to  I,  and  the  other  involved  the  question 
of  accepting  Ex-Representative  Towne  as  the  candidate  for 

42! 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Vice-President,  who  had  already  been  nominated  by  the 
Fusion  Populists  at  Sioux  Falls,  and  who  was  specially 
desired  as  the  candidate  by  the  Free-Silver  Republicans. 
The  discussion  on  the  question  of  simply  approving  the 
Chicago  platform  in  a  general  and  perfunctory  way  and 
making  trusts  and  imperialism  the  great  issues  of  the  con- 
test, was  very  earnest  and  developed  a  considerable  degree 
of  bitterness.  The  Democratic  leaders  of  the  Eastern  States 
were  nearly  or  quite  unanimous  in  favor  of  relegating  the 
free-silver  issue  to  the  rear  by  the  simple  affirmation  of  the 
Chicago  platform,  and  elaborating  the  issues  of  trusts  and 
imperialism  in  the  new  platform.  It  was  evident  that  a 
majority  of  the  delegates  believed  that  to  be  the  wiser  policy 
for  the  party,  but  Mr.  Bryan,  who  was  freely  consulted  on 
the  subject,  was  very  emphatic  in  demanding  that  there 
should  be  a  distinct  reiteration  of  the  free-silver  plank  of 
the  Chicago  platform. 

Notwithstanding  the  earnest  expressions  of  Mr.  Bryan' 
there  was  a  very  animated  contest  in  the  platform  committee, 
and  the  free-silver  plank  was  admitted  by  a  vote  of  26  to  24, 
and  5  of  the  26  votes  cast  in  favor  of  the  free-silver  plank 
were  given  by  the  Territories  of  Arizona,  Oklahoma,  New 
Mexico,  Hawaii,  and  Indian  Territory.  After  the  com- 
mittee had  decided  in  favor  of  Mr.  Bryan's  views  as  to  the 
plank  on  the  silver  question,  the  friends  of  the  more  con- 
servative policy  decided  not  to  make  a  battle  in  open  con- 
vention, and  the  platform  was  adopted  practically  without 
opposition.  The  following  table  gives  the  votes  by  States 
in  the  platform  committee  by  which  the  distinct  free-silver 
plank  was  embodied  in  the  platform : 


AYES 


NAYS 


Alabama, 

New  Hampshire, 

California, 

New  York, 

Arkansas, 

North  Dakota, 

Connecticut, 

North  Carolina, 

Colorado, 

Oregon, 

Florida, 

Ohio, 

Delaware, 

South  Carolina, 

Georgia, 

Pennsylvania, 

Idaho, 

Tennessee, 

Illinois, 

Rhode  Island, 

Iowa, 

Vermont, 

Indiana, 

South  Dakota, 

Kansas, 
Kentucky, 

Washington, 
Wyoming, 

Louisiana, 
Maryland, 

Texas, 
Utah, 

Maine, 

Arizona, 

Michigan, 

Virginia, 

Massachusetts, 

Oklahoma, 

Minnesota, 

West  Virginia, 

Missouri, 

Indian  Territory, 

Mississippi, 

Wisconsin, 

Nebraska, 

New  Mexico, 

New  Jersey, 

Alaska  —  24. 

Nevada, 

Hawaii  —  26. 

422 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

After  the  adoption  of  the  platform  the  nomination  for 
President  was  in  order.  A  number  of  speeches  were  made 
nominating  and  seconding  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Bryan, 
all  of  which  were  received  with  great  enthusiasm.  The  roll 
of  States  was  then  called,  and  when  Ohio  had  cast  her 
unanimous  vote  for  Bryan,  he  had  already  received  the 
necessary  two-thirds  vote,  and  his  nomination  was  declared 
by  acclamation.  The  nomination  of  Bryan  concluded  the 
proceedings  of  the  second  day  of  the  convention,  and  for  the 
third  day  there  remained  only  the  work  of  nominating  the 
candidate  for  Vice-President.  Some  very  spirited  debates 
ensued.  Ex-Governor  Hill,  of  New  York,  was  earnestly 
pressed  to  accept  the  nomination,  but  he  persistently  and 
peremptorily  declined.  Had  he  been  willing  to  accept,  his 
nomination  would  have  been  made  without  a  contest. 

The  more  radical  free-silver  element  of  the  party  made  a 
very  desperate  battle  for  the  nomination  of  Ex-Representa- 
tive Towne,  of  Minnesota,  but  the  conservative  elements 
rallied  in  support  of  Ex-Vice-President  Stevenson,  and  they 
succeeded  in  accomplishing  his  nomination.  There  was  only 
one  ballot  for  Vice-President,  and  Ex-Governor  Hill  received 
200  votes,  although  peremptorily  refusing  the  use  of  his 
name.  The  first  ballot  as  reported  before  changes  were 
made  to  nominate  Stevenson,  resulted  as  follows : 


Stevenson  559>£ 

Hill  290 
Towne  89}£ 

Patrick  46 


Carr  22 

Smith  16 

1 

Danforth  1 


Stevenson  had  received  the  majority  of  the  votes  but  not 
the  necessary  two-thirds,  and  changes  were  made  before  the 
ballot  was  announced,  ending  in  the  unanimous  nomination 
of  Stevenson.  The  following  platform  was  unanimously 
adopted : 

We,  the  representatives  of  the  Democratic  party  of  the  United 
States,  assembled  in  convention  on  the  anniversary  of  the  adoption 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  do  reaffirm  our  faith  in  that 
immortal  proclamation  of  the  inalienable  rights  of  man  and  our 
allegiance  to  the  Constitution  framed  in  harmony  therewith  by  the 
Fathers  of  the  Republic.  We  hold  with  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court  that  the  Declaration  of  Independence  is  the  spirit  of  our 
Government,  of  which  the  Constitution  is  the  form  and  letter. 

We  declare  again  that  all  governments  instituted  among  men  derive 
their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed;  that  any  gov- 

423 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

ernment  not  based  upon  the  consent  of  the  governed  is  a  tyranny; 
and  that  to  impose  on  any  people  a  government  of  force  is  to  sub- 
stitute the  methods  of  imperialism  for  those  of  a  Republic.  We 
hold  that  the  Constitution  follows  the  flag  and  denounce  the  doctrine 
that  an  Executive  or  Congress  deriving  their  existence  and  their 
powers  from  the  Constitution  can  exercise  lawful  authority  beyond 
it  or  in  violation  of  it.  We  assert  that  no  nation  can  long  endure 
half  republic  and  half  empire,  and  we  warn  the  American  people 
that  imperialism  abroad  will  lead  quickly  and  inevitably  to  despotism 
at  home.  Believing  in  those  fundamental  principles  we  denounce 
the  Porto  Rico  law,  enacted  by  a  Republican  Congress  against  the 
protest  and  opposition  of  the  Democratic  minority  as  a  bold  and 
open  violation  of  the  nation's  organic  law  and  a  flagrant  breach  of 
the  national  good  will. 

It  imposes  upon  the  people  of  Porto  Rico  a  government  without 
their  consent  and  taxation  without  representation.  It  dishonors 
the  American  people  by  repudiating  a  solemn  pledge  made  in  their 
behalf  by  the  commanding  general  of  our  army,  which  the  Porto 
Ricans  welcomed  to  a  peaceful  and  unresisted  occupation  of  their 
land.  It  doomed  to  poverty  and  distress  a  people  whose  helplessness 
appeals  with  peculiar  force  to  our  justice  and  magnanimity.  In 
this,  the  first  act  of  its  imperialistic  programme,  the  Republican 
party  seeks  to  commit  the  United  States  to  a  colonial  policy,  incon- 
sistent wtih  republican  institutions  and  condemned  by  the  Supreme 
Court  in  numerous  decisions. 

We  demand  the  prompt  and  honest  fulfilment  of  our  pledge  to 
the  Cuban  people  and  to  the  world  that  the  United  States  has  no 
disposition  nor  intention  to  exercise  sovereignty,  jursidiction  or 
control  over  the  Island  of  Cuba,  except  for  its  pacification.  The 
war  ended  nearly  two  years  ago,  profound  peace  reigns  over  all  the 
island,  and  still  the  administration  keeps  the  government  of  the 
island  from  its  people,  while  Republican  carpet-bag  officials  plunder 
its  revenues  and  exploit  the  colonial  theory  to  the  disgrace  of  the 
American  people. 

We  condemn  and  denounce  the  Philippine  policy  of  the  present 
administration.  It  has  involved  the  Republic  in  unnecessary  war, 
sacrificed  the  lives  of  many  of  our  noblest  sons  and  placed  the 
United  States,  previously  known  and  applauded  throughout  the 
world  as  the  champion  of  freedom,  in  the  false  and  un-American 
position  of  crushing  with  military  force  the  efforts  of  our  former 
allies  to  achieve  liberty  and  self-government.  The  Filipinos  cannot 
be  citizens  without  endangering  our  civilization ;  they  cannot  be 
subjects  without  imperiling  our  form  of  government,  and  as  we  are 
not  willing  to  surrender  our  civilization  or  to  convert  the  Republic 
into  an  Empire  we  favor  an  immediate  declaration  of  the  nation's 
purpose  to  give  to  the  Filipinos  first  a  stable  form  of  government, 
second  independence,  and  third,  protection  from  outside  interference, 
such  as  has  been  given  for  nearly  a  century  to  the  Republics  of 
Central  and  South  America. 

The  greedy  commercialism  which  dictated  the  Philippine  policy  of 
the  Republican  administration  attempts  to  justify  it  with  the  plea 
that  it  will  pay,  but  even  this  sordid  and  unworthy  plea  fails  when 
brought  to  the  test  of  facts.  The  war  of  criminal  aggression 

424 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

against  the  Filipinos,  entailing  an  annual  expense  of  many  millions, 
has  already  cost  more  than  any  possible  profit  that  could  accrue 
from  the  entire  Philippine  trade  for  years  to  come.  Furthermore, 
when  trade  is  extended  at  the  expense  of  liberty  the  price  is 
always  too  high. 

We  are  not  opposed  to  territorial  expansion  when  it  takes  in 
desirable  territory  which  can  be  erected  into  States  in  the  Union 
and  whose  people  are  willing  and  fit  to  become  American  citizens. 

We  favor  expansion  by  every  peaceful  and  legitimate  means,  but 
we  are  unalterably  opposed  to  seizing  or  purchasing  of  distant 
islands  to  be  governed  outside  the  Constitution  and  whose  people 
can  never  become  citizens. 

We  are  in  favor  of  extending  the  Republic's  influence  among  the 
nations,  but  believe  that  influence  should  be  extended,  not  by  force 
and  violence,  but  through  the  persuasive  power  of  a  high  and 
honorable  example. 

The  importance  of  other  questions  now  pending  before  the 
American  people  is  in  nowise  diminished  and  the  Democratic  party 
takes  no  backward  step  from  its  position  on  them,  but  the  burning 
issue  of  imperialism  growing  out  of  the  Spanish  war  involves  the 
very  existence  of  the  Republic  and  the  destruction  of  our  free  insti- 
tutions. We  regard  it  as  the  paramount  issue  of  the  campaign. 

The  declaration  in  the  Republican  platform  adopted  at  the  Phila- 
delphia convention,  held  in  June,  1900,  that  the  Republican  party 
"steadfastly  adheres  to  the  policy  announced  in  the  Monroe  doc- 
trine," is  manifestly  insincere  and  deceptive.  This  profession  is 
contradicted  by  the  avowed  policy  of  that  party  in  opposition  to  the 
spirit  of  the  Monroe  doctrine  to  acquire  and  hold  sovereignty  over 
large  areas  of  territory  and  large  numbers  of  people  in  the  Eastern 
Hemisphere.  We  insist  on  the  strict  maintenance  of  the  Monroe 
doctrine  and  in  all  its  integrity,  both  in  letter  and  in  spirit,  as 
necessary  to  prevent  the  extension  of  European  authority  on  this 
continent  and  as  essential  to  our  supremacy  in  American  affairs. 
At  the  same  time  we  declare  that  no  American  people  shall  ever  be 
held  by  force  in  unwilling  subjection  to  European  authority. 

We  oppose  militarism.  It  means  conquest  abroad  and  intimidation 
and  oppression  at  home.  It  means  the  strong  arm  which  has  ever 
been  fatal  to  free  institutions.  It  is  what  millions  of  our  citizens 
have  fled  from  in  Europe.  It  will  oppose  upon  our  peace-loving 
people  a  large  standing  army  and  unnecessary  burden  of  taxation 
and  a  constant  menace  to  their  liberties.  A  small  standing  army 
and  a  well  disciplined  State  militia  are  amply  sufficient  in  time  of 
peace.  This  Republic  has  no  place  for  a  vast  military  service  and 
conscription. 

When  the  nation  is  in  danger  the  volunteer  soldier  is  his  country's 
best  defender.  The  National  Guard  of  the  United  States  should 
ever  be  cherished  in  the  patriotic  hearts  of  a  free  people.  Such 
organizations  are  ever  an  element  of  strength  and  safety.  For  the 
first  time  in  our  history  and  coeval  with  the  Philippine  conquest  has 
there  been  a  wholesale  departure  from  our  time-honored  and 
approved  system  of  volunteer  organization.  We  denounce  it  as  un- 
American,  undemocratic  and  unrepublican,  and  as  a  subversion  of 
the  ancient  and  fixed  principles  of  a  free  people. 

4*5 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

Private  monopolies  are  indefensible  and  intolerable.  They 
destroy  competition,  control  the  price  of  all  material  and  of  the 
finished  product,  thus  robbing  both  producer  and  consumer.  They 
lessen  the  employment  of  labor  and  arbitrarily  fix  the  terms  and 
conditions  thereof  and  deprive  individual  energy  and  small  capital 
of  their  opportunity  for  betterment. 

They  are  the  most  efficient  means  yet  devised  for  appropriating 
the  fruits  of  industry  to  the  benefit  of  the  few  at  the  expense  of  the 
many  and  unless  their  insatiate  greed  is  checked  all  wealth  will  be 
aggregated  in  a  few  hands  and  the  Republic  destroyed.  The  dis- 
honest paltering  with  the  trust  evil  by  the  Republican  party  in 
State  and  national  platforms  is  conclusive  proof  of  the  truth  of  the 
charge  that  trusts  are  the  legitimate  product  of  Republican  policies, 
that  they  are  fostered  by  Republican  laws  and  that  they  are  pro- 
tected by  the  Republican  administration  in  return  for  campaign  sub- 
scriptions and  political  support. 

"We  pledge  the  Democratic  party  to  an  unceasing  warfare  in 
nation,  State  and  city  against  private  monopoly  in  every  form. 
Existing  laws  against  .trusts  must  be  enforced  and  more  stringent 
ones  must  be  enacted  providing  for  publicity  as  to  the  affairs  of 
corporations  engaged  in  inter- State  commerce  and  requiring  all 
corporations  to  show  before  doing  business  outside  of  the  State  of 
their  origin  that  they  have  no  water  in  their  stock,  and  that  they 
have  not  attempted  and  are  not  attempting  to  monopolize  any 
branch  of  business  or  the  production  of  any  articles  of  merchandise, 
and  the  whole  Constitutional  power  of  Congress  over  inter- State 
commerce,  the  mails  and  all  modes  of  inter- State  communication 
shall  be  exercised  by  the  enactment  of  comprehensive  laws  upon  the 
subject  of  trusts.  Tariff  laws  should  be  amended  by  putting  the 
products  of  trusts  upon  the  free  list  to  prevent  monopoly  under  the 
plea  of  protection. 

The  failure  of  the  present  Republican  administration  with  an 
absolute  control  over  all  the  branches  of  the  National  Government 
to  enact  any  legislation  designed  to  prevent  or  even  curtail  the 
absorbing  power  of  trusts  and  illegal  combinations,  or  to  enforce 
the  anti-trust  laws  already  on  the  statute  books,  proves  the  insincerity 
of  the  high-sounding  phrases  of  the  Republican  platform. 

Corporations  should  be  protected  in  all  these  rights  and  their 
legitimate  interests  should  be  respected,  but  any  attempt  by  corpora- 
tions to  interfere  with  the  public  affairs  of  the  people  or  to  control 
the  sovereignty  which  creates  them  should  be  forbidden  with  such 
penalties  as  will  make  such  attempts  impossible. 

We  condemn  the  Dingley  tariff  law  as  a  trust-breeding  measure, 
skilfully  devised  to  give  the  few  favors  which  they  do  not  deserve 
and  to  place  upon  the  many  burdens  which  they  should  not  bear. 

We  favor  such  an  enlargement  of  the  scope  of  the  inter-State 
commerce  law  as  will  enable  the  commission  to  protect  individuals 
and  communities  from  discriminations  and  the  public  from  unjust 
and  unfair  transportation  rates. 

We  reaffirm  and  indorse  the  principles  of  the  national  Democratic 
platform  adopted  at  Chicago  in  1896  and  we  reiterate  the  demand 
of  that  platform  for  an  American  financial  system  made  by  the 
American  people  for  themselves  which  shall  restore  and  maintain 

426 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

a  bi-metallic  price-level  and  as  part  of  such  system  the  immediate 
restoration  of  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver  and  gold  at 
the  present  legal  ratio  of  16  to  I  without  waiting  for  the  aid  or 
consent  of  any  other  nation. 

We  denounce  the  currency  bill  enacted  at  the  last  session  of 
Congress  as  a  step  forward  in  the  Republican  policy  which  aims  to 
discredit  the  sovereign  right  of  the  national  Government  to  issue  all 
money,  whether  coin  or  paper,  and  to  bestow  upon  national  banks 
the  power  to  issue  and  control  the  volume  of  paper  money  for  their 
own  benefit.  A  permanent  national  bank  currency,  secured  by  the 
Government  bonds,  must  have  a  permanent  debt  to  rest  upon,  and 
if  the  bank  currency  is  to  increase  with  the  population  and  business 
the  debt  must  also  increase.  The  Republican  currency  scheme  is, 
therefore,  a  scheme  for  fastening  upon  the  taxpayers  a  perpetual 
and  growing  debt  for  the  benefit  of  the  banks.  We  are  opposed  to 
this  private  corporation  paper  circulated  as  money,  but  without 
legal  tender  qualities,  and  demand  the  retirement  of  the  national 
bank  notes  as  fast  as  this  Government  paper  and  silver  certificates 
can  be  substituted  for  them. 

We  favor  an  amendment  to  the  Federal  Constitution  providing 
for  the  election  of  United  States  Senators  by  direct  vote  of  the 
people,  and  we  favor  direct  legislation  wherever  practicable. 

We  are  opposed  to  government  by  injunction;  we  denounce  the 
blacklist  and  favor  arbitration  as  a  means  of  settling  disputes 
between  corporations  and  their  employes. 

In  the  interest  of  American  labor  and  the  uplifting  of  the  work- 
ingman,  as  the  corner-stone  of  the  prosperity  of  the  country,  we 
recommend  that  Congress  create  a  Department  of  Labor  in  charge 
of  a  Secretary,  with  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet,  believing  that  the  elevation 
of  the  American  laborer  will  bring  with  it  increased  prosperity  to 
our  country  at  home,  and  to  our  commerce  abroad. 

We  are  proud  of  the  courageous  fidelity  of  the  American  soldiers 
and  sailors  in  all  our  wars;  we  favor  liberal  pensions  to  them  and 
their  dependents  and  we  reiterate  the  position  taken  in  the  Chicago 
platform  in  1896  that  the  fact  of  enlistment  and  service  shall  be 
deemed  conclusive  evidence  against  disease  and  disability  before 
enlistment. 

We  favor  the  immediate  construction,  ownership  and  control  of 
the  Nicaraugua  Canal  by  the  United  States,  and  we  denounce  the 
insincerity  of  the  plank  in  the  late  Republican  platform  for  an 
isthmian  canal  in  the  face  of  the  failure  of  the  Republican  majority 
to  pass  the  pending  bill  in  Congress. 

We  condemn  the  Hay-Pauncefote  treaty  as  a  surrender  of  Ameri- 
can rights  and  interests,  not  to  be  tolerated  by  the  American  people. 

We  denounce  the  failure  of  the  Republican  party  to  carry  out  its 
pledges,  to  grant  Statehood  to  the  Territories  of  Arizona,  New 
Mexico  and  Oklahoma,  and  we  promise  the  people  of  those  Terri- 
tories immediate  Statehood  and  home  rule  during  their  condition  as 
Territories,  and  we  favor  home  rule  and  a  territorial  form  of  gov- 
ernment for  Alaska  and  Porto  Rico. 

We  favor  an  intelligent  system  of  improving  the  arid  lands  of  the 
West,  storing  the  waters  for  purposes  of  irrigation  and  the  holding 
of  such  lands  for  actual  settlers. 

We  favor  the  continuance  and  strict  enforcement  of  the  Chinese 

427 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

exclusion  law  and  its  application  to  the  same  classes  of  all  Asiatic 
races.  Jefferson  said:  "Peace,  commerce  and  honest  friendship 
with  all  nations ;  entangling  alliances  with  none." 

We  approve  this  wholesome  doctrine  and  earnestly  protest  against 
the  Republican  departure  which  has  involved  us  in  so-called  politics, 
including  the  diplomacy  of  Europe  and  the  intrigue  and  land-grab- 
bing of  Asia  and  we  especially  condemn  the  ill-concealed  Republican 
alliance  with  England  which  must  mean  discrimination  against  other 
friendly  nations  and  which  has  already  stifled  the  nation's  voice 
while  liberty  is  being  strangled  in  Africa. 

Believing  in  the  principles  of  self-government  and  rejecting,  as 
did  our  forefathers,  the  claim  of  monarchy,  we  view  with  indignation 
the  purpose  of  England  to  overwhelm  with  force  the  South  African 
Republics.  Speaking  as  we  do  for  the  entire  American  nation  except 
its  Republican  office-holders  and  for  all  free  men  everywhere,  we 
extend  our  sympathies  to  the  heroic  burghers  in  their  unequal 
struggle  to  maintain  their  liberty  and  independence. 

We  denounce  the  large  appropriations  of  recent  Republican 
Congresses,  which  have  kept  taxes  high  and  which  threaten  per- 
petuation of  oppression,  of  war  taxes.  We  oppose  the  accumulation 
of  a  surplus  to  be  squandered  in  such  barefaced  frauds  upon  the 
taxpayers  as  the  shipping  subsidy  bill,  which  under  the  false  pre- 
tense of  prospering  American  shipbuiding,  would  put  unearned 
millions  into  the  pockets  of  favorite  contributors  to  the  Republican 
campaign  fund.  We  favor  the  reduction  and  speedy  repeal  of  the 
war  taxes  and  a  return  to  the  time-honored  Democratic  policy  of 
strict  economy  in  governmental  expenditures. 

Believing  that  our  most  cherished  institutions  are  in  great  peril, 
that  the  very  existence  of  our  Constitutional  Republic  is  at  stake, 
and  that  the  decision  now  to  be  rendered  will  determine  whether  or 
not  our  children  are  to  enjoy  those  blessed  privileges  of  free  gov- 
ernment which  have  made  the  United  States  great,  prosperous  and 
honored,  we  earnestly  ask  for  the  foregoing  declaration  of  principles 
the  hearty  support  of  the  liberty-loving  American  people,  regardless 
of  previous  party  affiliations. 

The  Free-Silver  Republican  convention  met  at  Kansas 
City  on  the  4th  of  July,  1900,  and  was  called  to  order  by 
Ex-Representative  Towne.  The  first  two  days  of  the  body 
were  devoted  entirely  to  speechmaking,  singing  patriotic 
songs,  and  the  adoption  of  a  platform  that  made  silver  the 
paramount  issue  of  the  contest.  After  the  Democratic  con- 
vention had  nominated  Mr.  Bryan  for  President,  the  Free- 
Silver  Republicans  nominated  Bryan  by  acclamation,  and 
while  they  very  generally  desired  the  nomination  of  Mr. 
Towne  for  Vice-President,  they  left  that  position  vacant 
to  be  filled  by  the  national  committee,  intending  to  nominate 
Mr.  Towne  if  he  should  be  accepted  by  the  Democrats.  The 
Democrats  refused  to  nominate  Mr.  Towne,  and  nominated 
Mr.  Stevenson,  but  Mr.  Towne  indicated  his  purpose,  by  a 
joint  visit  with  Mr.  Stevenson  to  Mr.  Bryan,  to  remain  on 

428 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

the  Fusion  People's  ticket  or  to  retire 'in  favor  of  Stevenson 
as  might  be  deemed  best.  It  was  finally  decided  that  the 
question  of  Mr.  Towne's  retirement  should  be  left  for 
further  consideration,  and  if  by  remaining  on  his  separate 
ticket  with  Bryan  the  election  of  Bryan  could  thus  be 
promoted,  he  would  remain,  and  if  deemed  best  for  him  to 
retire  and  thus  unite  the  Democrats,  the  Fusion  People's 
party  and  the  Free-Silver  Republicans  on  one  national  ticket 
he  would  do  so.  Mr.  Towne  finally  retired  and  advised  the 
acceptance  of  Stevenson,  who  thus  became  the  associate  of 
Bryan  on  both  tickets.  The  following  is  the  platform 
adopted  by  the  Free-Silver  Republicans : 

We,  the  Silver  Republican  party,  in  national  convention  assembled, 
declare  these  as  our  principles  and  invita  the  co-operation  of  all  who 
agree  therewith : 

We  recognize  that  the  principles  set  forth  in  the  Declaration  of 
American  Independence  are  fundamental  and  everlastingly  true  in 
their  application  to  governments  among  men.  We  believe  the  patriotic 
words  of  Washington's  farewell  to  be  the  words  of  soberness  and  wis- 
dom inspired  by  the  spirit  of  right  and  truth.  We  treasure  the  words 
of  Jefferson  as  priceless  gems  of  American  statesmanship.  W  e  hold 
in  sacred  remembrance  the  philanthropy  and  patriotism  of  Lincoln, 
who  was  the  great  interpreter  of  American  history  and  the  great 
apostle  of  human  rights  and  of  industrial  freedom,  and  we  declare, 
as  was  declared  by  the  convention  that  nominated  the  great  emanci- 
pator, that  the  maintenance  of  the  principles  promulgated  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  and  embodied  in  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution, "that  all  men  are  created  equal;  that  they  are  endowed 
by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights;  that  among  these 
are  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness;  that  to  secure  these 
rights  governments  are  instituted  among  men,  deriving  their 
just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed" — is  essential  to  the 
preservation  of  our  republican  institutions.  .  .  . 

We  declare  our  adherence  to  the  principle  of  bi-metallism  as  the 
right  basis  of  a  monetary  system  under  our  national  Constitution — 
a  principle  that  found  place  repeatedly  in  Republican  platforms  from 
the  demonetization  of  silver  in  1873  to  the  St.  Louis  Republican 
convention  of  1896. 

Since  that  convention  a  Republican  Congress  and  a  Republican 
President,  at  the  dictation  of  the  trusts  and  money  power,  have 
passed  and  approved  a  currency  bill  which  in  itself  in  a  repudiation 
of  the  doctrine  of  bi-metallism  advocated  theretofore  by  the  Presi- 
dent and  every  great  leader  of  his  party. 

This  currency  law  destroys  the  full  money  power  of  the  silver 
dollar,  provides  for  the  payment  of  all  Government  obligations  and 
the  redemption  of  all  forms  of  paper  money  in  gold  alone — retires 
the  time-honored  and  patriotic  greenbacks,  constituting  one-sixth  of 
the  money  in  circulation,  and  surrenders  to  banking  corporations  a 
sovereign  function  of  issuing  all  paper  money,  thus  enabling  these 

429 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

corporations  to  control  the  prices  of  labor  and  property  by  increasing 
or  diminishing  the  volume  of  money  in  circulation,  thus  giving  the 
banks  power  to  create  panics  and  bring  disaster  upon  business 
enterprises. 

The  provisions  of  this  currency  law  making  the  bonded  debt  of 
the  Republic  payable  in  gold  alone  changes  the  contract  between  the 
Government  and  the  bondholders  to  the  advantage  of  the  latter, 
and  is^  in  direct  opposition  to  the  declaration  of  the  Matthews' 
resolution  passed  by  Congress  in  1878,  for  which  resolution  the 
present  Republican  President,  then  a  member  of  Congress,  voted, 
as  did  also  all  leading  Republicans,  both  in  the  House  and  Senate. 

We  declare  it  to  be  our  intention  to  lend  our  efforts  to  the  repeal 
of  this  currency  law,  which  not  only  repudiates  the  ancient  and  time- 
honored  principles  of  the  American  people  before  the  Constitution 
was  adopted,  but  is  violative  of  the  principles  of  the  Constitution 
itself^  and  ^  we  shall  not  cease  our  efforts  until  there  has  been 
established  in  its  place  a  monetary  system  based  upon  the  free  and 
unlimited  coinage  of  silver  and  gold  into  money  at  the  present  legal 
ratio  of  16  to  I  by  the  independent  action  of  the  United  States, 
under  which  system  all  paper  money  shall  be  issued  by  the  Govern- 
ment, and  all  such  money  coined  or  issued  shall  be  a  full  legal  tender 
in  payment  of  all  debts  public  and  private,  without  exception. 

We  are  in  favor  of  a  graduated  tax  upon  incomes,  and  if  necessary 
to  accomplish  this  we  favor  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution. 

We  believe  that  United  States  Senators  ought  to  be  elected  by  a 
direct^  vote  of  the  people,  and  we  favor  such  amendment  of  the 
Constitution  and  such  legislation  as  may  be  necessary  to  that  end. 

We  favor  the  maintenance  and  the  extension  wherever  practicable 
of  the  merit  system  in  the  public  service,  appointments  to  be  made 
according  to  fitness,  competitively  ascertained,  and  public  servants  to 
be  retained  in  officet  only  so  long  as  shall  be  compatible  with  the 
efficiency  of  the  service. 

Combinations,  trusts  and  monopolies,  contrived  and  arranged  for 
the  purpose  of  controlling  the  prices  and  quantity  and  articles  sup- 
plied to  the  public  are  unjust,  unlawful  and  oppressive.  Not  only 
do  these  unlawful  conspiracies  fix  the  prices  of  commodities  in 
many  cases,  but  they  invade  every  branch  of  the  State  and  national 
Government  with  their  polluting  influence  and  control  the  actions 
of  their  employes  and  their  dependents  in  private  life  until  their 
influence  actually  imperils  society  and  the  liberty  of  the  citizen.  We 
declare  against  them.  We  demand  the  most  stringent  laws  for  their 
destruction  and  the  most  severe  punishment  of  their  promoters  and 
maintainers  and  the  energetic  enforcement  of  such  laws  by  the 
courts. 

We  believe  the  Monroe  doctrine  to  be  sound  in  principle  and  a 
wise  national  policy,  and  we  demand  a  firm  adherence  thereto. 
We  ^  condemn  acts  inconsistent  with  it  and  that  tend  to  make  us 
parties  to  the  interests  and  to  involve  us  in  the  controversies  of 
European  nations,  and  to  recognition  by  pending  treaty  of  the  right 
of  England  to  be  considered  in  the  construction  of  an  inter-oceanic 
canal. 

We  declare  that  such  canal,  when  constructed,  ought  to  be  con- 
trolled by  the  United  States  in  the  interests  of  American  nations. 

We  observe  with  anxiety  and  regard  with  disapproval  the  increasing 
ownership  of  American  lands  by  aliens  and  their  growing  control 

430 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

over  our  international  transportation,  natural  resources  and  public 
utilities.  We  demand  legislation  to  protect  our  public  domain,  our 
natural  resources,  our  franchises  and  our  internal  commerce,  and 
to  keep  them  free  and  maintain  their  independence  of  all  foreign 
monopolies,  institutions  and  influences,  and  we  declare  our  opposition 
to  the  leasing  of  the  public  lands  of  the  United  States  whereby 
corporations  and  syndicates  will  be  able  to  secure  control  thereof 
and  thus  monopolize  the  public  domain,  the  heritage  of  the  people. 

We  are  in  favor  of  the  principles  of  direct  legislation. 

In  view  of  the  great  sacrifice  made  and  patriotic  services  rendered 
we  are  in  favor  of  liberal  pensions  to  deserving  soldiers,  their 
widows,  orphans  and  other  dependents.  We  believe  that  enlistment 
and  service  should  be  accepted  as  conclusive  proof  that  the  soldier 
was  free  from  disease  and  disability  at  the  time  of  his  enlistment. 
We  condemn  the  present  administration  of  the  pension  laws. 

We  tender  to  the  patriotic  people  of  the  South  African  Republics 
our  sympathy  and  express  our  admiration  for  them  in  their  heroic 
attempts  to  preserve  their  political  freedom  and  maintain  their 
national  independence.  We  declare  that  the  destruction  of  these  Re- 
publics and  the  subjugation  of  their  people  to  be  a  crime  against 
civilization.  We  believe  this  sympathy  should  have  been  voiced  by 
the  American  Congress,  as  was  done  in  the  case  of  the  French,  the 
Greeks,  the  Hungarians,  the  Polanders,  the  Armenians  and  the 
Cubans,  and  as  the  traditions  of  this  country  would  have  dictated. 

We  declare  the  Porto  Rican  tariff  to  be  not  only  a  serious,  but  a 
dangerous  departure  from  the  principles  of  our  form  of  government. 
We  believe  in  a  Republican  form  of  government  and  are  opposed  to 
monarchy  and  to  the  whole  theory  of  imperialistic  control.  We 
believe  in  self-government — a  government  by  consent  of  the  gov- 
erned, and  are  unalterably  opposed  to  a  government  based  upon 
force. 

It  is  clear  and  certain  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  Philippine 
archipelago  cannot  be  made  citizens  of  the  United  States  without 
endangering  our  civilization.  We  are,  therefore,  in  favor  of  apply- 
ing to  the  Philippine  archipelago  the  principle  we  are  solemnly 
and  publicly  pledged  to  observe  in  the  case  of  Cuba. 

There  being  no  longer  any  necessity  for  collecting  war  taxes,  we 
demand  the  repeal  of  the  war  taxes  levied  to  carry  on  the  war  with 
Spain. 

We  favor  the  immediate  admission  into  the  Union  of  States  the 
Territories  of  Arizona,  New  Mexico  and  Oklahoma. 

We  demand  that  our  nation's  promises  to  Cuba  shall  be  fulfilled 
in  every  particular. 

We  contend  the  national  Government  should  lend  every  aid  and 
encouragement  and  assistance  toward  the  reclamation  of  the  arid 
lands  of  the  United  States,  and  to  that  end  we  are  in  favor  of  a 
comprehensive  survey  thereof  and  an  immediate  ascertainment  of 
the  water  supply  available  for  such  reclamation,  and  we  believe  it 
to  be  the  duty  of  the  general  Government  to  provide  for  the  con- 
struction of  storage  reservoirs  and  irrigation  works,  so  that  the 
water  supply  of  the  arid  region  may  be  utilized  to  the  greatest 
possible  extent  in  the  interests  of  the  people,  while  preserving  all 
rights  of  the  State. 

Transportation  is  a  public  necessity  and  the  means  and  methods 

29  43 I 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

of  it  are  matters  of  public  concern.  Railway  companies  exercise  a 
power  over  industries,  business  and  commerce  which  they  ought 
not  to  do  and  should  be  made  to  serve  the  public  interests  without 
making  unreasonable  charges  or  unjust  discrimination.  We  observe 
with  satisfaction  the  growing  sentiment  among  the  people  in  favor 
of  the  public  ownership  and  operation  of  public  utilities. 

Peace  is  the  virtue  of  civilization  and  war  is  its  crime.  War  is 
only  justifiable  when  the  oppressors  of  humanity  will  heed  no  other 
appeal,  and  when  the  enemies  of  liberty  will  respond  to  no  other 
demand.  However  high  and  pure  may  be  the  purposes  of  an  appeal 
to  arms  in  the  beginning,  war  becomes  immoral  when  continued  for 
the  purpose  of  subjugation,  or  for  national  aggrandizement. 

We  are  in  favor  of  expanding  our  commerce  in  the  interests  of 
American  labor  and  for  the  benefit  of  all  our  people  by  every  honest 
and  peaceful  means,  but  when  war  is  waged  to  extend  trade,  force 
commerce  or  to  acquire  wealth,  it  is  national  piracy.  Our  creed 
and  our  history  justify  the  nations  of  the  earth  in  expecting  that 
wherever  the  American  flag  in  unfurled  in  authority,  human  liberty 
and  political  freedom  will  be  found.  We  protest  against  the 
adoption  of  any  policy  that  will  change,  in  the  thought  of  the  world, 
the  meaning  of  our  flag.  We  insist  that  it  shall  never  float  over 
any  vessel  or  wave  at  the  head  of  any  column  directed  against  the 
political  independence  of  any  people  or  of  any  race  or  in  any  clime. 

We  are  opposed  to  the  importation  of  Asiatic  laborers  in  com- 
petition with  American  labor  and  a  more  rigid  enforcement  of  the 
laws  relating  thereto. 

The  Silver  Republican  party  of  the  United  States  in  the  foregoing 
principles  seeks  to  perpetuate  the  spirit  and  to  adhere  to  the  teach- 
ings of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

On  the  25th  of  July,  1900,  the  executive  committee  of  the 
Sound-Money  Democrats  met  at  Indianapolis  to  confer  on 
the  subject  of  calling  a  national  convention  and  nominating 
Sound-Money  Democratic  candidates  for  President  and  Vice- 
President.  Representatives  from  the  Anti-Imperialists 
were  present  and  suggested  that  Sound-Money  Democrats 
and  the  Anti-Imperialist  League  should  unite  on  a  national 
ticket ;  but  the  committee,  after  full  deliberation,  decided  not 
to  call  a  national  convention  to  nominate  candidates  for 
President  and  Vice-President ;  and  after  expressing  con- 
tinued faith  in  the  policy  of  sound  money,  adjourned 
without  day. 

On  the  1 5th  of  August,  1900,  the  First  Liberty  Congress 
of  the  National  Anti-imperialistic  League  met  at  Indian- 
apolis to  consider  the  question  of  uniting  on  candidates  for 
the  Presidency  and  Vice-Presidency.  It  was  largely  at- 
tended and  among  its  members  were  a  number  of  prominent 
men,  including  Ex-Governor  Geo.  S.  Boutwell,  of  Massa- 
chusetts, who  presided.  A  new  organization  called  the 

432 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

Nationals,  made  up  chiefly  of  Sound-Money  Anti-Imperial- 
was  called  to  meet  at  the  same  place  and  time.  The 
Nationals  were  limited  in  numbers,  and  beyond  holding  an 
informal  conference  the  day  before  the  meeting  of  the 
Liberty  Congress,  they  took  no  definite  action.  Most  of 
their  members  entered  the  Liberty  Congress,  but  many  of 
them  refused  to  approve  the  declaration  of  the  Anti-Im- 
perialists in  favor  of  Bryan  for  President. 

The  Anti-Imperialist  Congress  was  in  session  two  days. 
There  was  very  earnest  and  able  discussion  on  the  policy 
the  party  should  pursue.  The  committee  on  platform  re- 
ported an  address  to  the  convention  denouncing  the  adminis- 
tration of  McKinley  and  recommending  the  support  of 
Bryan  for  President.  The  report  called  out  a  very  spirited 
debate  but  it  was  finally  adopted  without  a  roll-call,  and 
by  nearly  a  unanimous  vote.  The  elaborate  address  pre- 
pared by  the  committee  was  summarized  in  defining  the 
duties  of  the  Anti-Imperialists,  as  follows : 

First.  That  without  regard  to  their  views  on  minor  questions  of 
domestic  policy,  they  withhold  their  votes  from  Mr.  McKinley  in 
order  to  stamp  with  their  disapproval  what  he  has  done. 

Second.  That  they  vote  for  those  candidates  for  Congress  in  their 
respective  districts  who  will  oppose  the  policy  of  imperialism. 

Third.  While  we  welcome  any  other  method  of  opposing  the  re- 
election of  Mr.  McKinley,  we  advise  direct  support  of  Mr.  Bryan 
as  the  most  effective  means  of  crushing  imperialism. 

The  supporters  of  an  independent  Anti-Imperialist  ticket 
did  not  give  their  approval  to  the  action  of  the  Liberty 
Congress,  and  some  fifteen  or  twenty  of  them  met  after  the 
Congress  had  adjourned,  and  adopted  a  motion  calling 
another  Anti-Imperial  convention  to  meet  in  New  York  on 
the  5th  of  September,  to  nominate  a  national  ticket. 

The  last  of  the  many  national  tickets  presented  in  the 
battle  of  1900  was  nominated  at  a  convention  held  in  New 
York  September  5,  1900,  composed  of  Anti-Imperialists  who 
dissented  from  the  action  of  the  Indianapolis  conference 
declining  to  nominate  candidates  for  President  and  Vice- 
President.  T.  M.  Osborne,  of  New  York,  presided.  The 
attendance  was  small,  not  over  60  in  number,  and  only  a 
small  portion  of  the  States  represented.  Donelson  Caffery, 
of  Louisiana,  was  nominated  for  President,  and  Archibald 
M.  Howe,  of  Massachusetts,  for  Vice-President,  without 
the  formality  of  a  ballot.  The  convention  adopted  the 

433 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

name  of  the  National  party  and  decided  that  full  electoral 
tickets  should  not  be  presented  to  the  people,  but  that  one 
elector  of  the  National  party  should  be  voted  for  at  the 
head  of  either  the  Bryan  or  the  McKinley  electors  as  the 
voter  preferred,  as  thereby  the  party  could  exhibit  its  dis- 
tinctive strength  without  throwing  their  votes  away  on  hope- 
less candidates.  A  platform  was  adopted  declaring  against 
Expansion,  in  favor  of  the  gold  standard,  demanding  a 
public  service  based  on  merit  only,  and  declaring  for  the 
abolition  of  "corrupting  special  privileges,  whether  under 
the  guise  of  subsidies,  bounties,  undeserved  pensions  or 
trust-breeding  tariffs."  This  party  did  not  materialize  in 
the  campaign  and  made  no  show  whatever  in  the  election 
returns. 

The  national  battle  of  1900  started  under  entirely  different 
conditions  from  those  presented  in  the  desperate  struggle 
between  the  same  national  leaders  four  years  before.  In 
1896  there  was  very  general  depression  in  industry,  com- 
merce and  trade;  labor  was  largely  unemployed  and  illy 
requited  when  work  could  be  obtained;  the  great  agricul- 
tural interests  of  the  country  had  suffered  a  long  continued 
depression  in  the  prices  of  their  products  that  involved  many 
of  them  in  crushing  debt  with  little  prospect  of  improve- 
ment. A  large  majority  of  the  people  then  belonged  to  the 
debtor  class,  and  many  of  them  saw  nothing  but  bankruptcy 
before  them.  These  conditions  enabled  the  advocates  of  the 
cheap  money  theory  to  command  the  attention  and  inspire  the 
interest  of  many  citizens  who  were  struggling  in  despair 
to  rescue  themselves  from  the  oppressive  influences  of  debt. 
The  appeal  was  always  plausibly  and  often  successfully 
made  to  this  sadly  depressed  class,  embracing  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  voters,  to  adopt  a  financial  system  that  would 
liquidate  their  debts,  under  color  of  law,  at  half  the  cost  of 
the  principal.  It  was  this  issue  that  forbade  the  hope  of 
the  Republicans  making  any  impression  on  the  Southern 
States  beyond  West  Virginia,  as  Kentucky  was  made  a  hope- 
ful battleground  for  the  Republicans  solely  by  the  wrangles 
of  Democratic  factions ;  and  it  was  this  issue  that  swept  the 
Republican  States  west  of  the  Missouri  into  the  Bryan 
column  by  large  majorities,  with  the  exceptions  of  Cali- 
fornia and  Oregon,  which  were  saved  by  small  majorities. 

In  1900  McKinley  and  Bryan,  the  two  great  leaders  in 
1896,  again  locked  horns  for  the  possession  of  the  highest 
civil  trust  in  the  world,  but  it  was  a  hopeless  battle  for 

434 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

Bryan  from  the  start.  The  country  was  prosperous  in 
every  channel  of  industry  and  trade;  labor  was  next  to 
universally  employed,  and  as  a  rule  at  the  highest  wages 
ever  paid  by  employers;  agricultural  products  greatly  ad- 
vanced in  value,  and  the  farming  interests  were  lifted  from 
the  slough  of  despair  by  their  well  rewarded  industries. 
The  free-silver  issue  was  shunned  by  most  of  the  Democratic 
leaders,  as  it  was  obvious  to  all  that  it  was  not  a  welcome 
issue  even  among  the  Democratic  people.  Bryan  was  com- 
pelled against  his  judgment,  I  do  not  doubt,  to  demand  and 
enforce  the  distinct  reiteration  of  the  free-silver  plank  of  the 
Chicago  platform  of  the  national  convention  of  1900.  It 
was  not  because  he  believed  that  the  issue  would  strengthen 
the  party,  but  because  it  was  a  supreme  political  necessity 
to  bring  the  Silver  Republicans,  who  held  their  national 
convention  at  Sioux  City  about  the  same  time  that  the 
Democrats  met  in  Kansas  City,  and  nominated  Bryan  with 
Towne  for  Vice-President.  This  promised  a  division  of  the 
Bryan  vote  such  as  was  exhibited  in  the  contest  of  1896. 
With  two  Bryan  candidates  for  Vice-President,  two  Bryan 
electoral  tickets  would  be  run  in  the  several  States,  thus  en- 
dangering Bryan's  success  in  some  sections  of  the  country. 
With  two  separate  Bryan  electoral  tickets  in  the  State,  he 
was  in  danger  of  losing  the  electors  even  though  he  received 
a  majority  of  the  popular  vote,  as  the  battle  was  squarely 
between  the  Republicans  and  the  highest  Democratic 
electoral  ticket.  Bryan  felt  compelled,  therefore,  to  force 
the  distinct  reiteration  of  the  free-silver  policy  in  the  Demo- 
cratic convention,  as  thereby  he  secured  the  withdrawal  of 
Towne,  the  silver  Republican  candidate  for  Vice-President, 
and  the  acceptance  of  Stevenson,  thus  uniting  the  whole 
Bryan  element  of  the  country,  including  Democrats  and 
Populists,  on  one  electoral  ticket  in  each  State. 

Bryan  knew  that  it  would  cost  him  many  votes  thus  to 
force  the  distinct  affirmation  of  the  silver  policy,  but  he 
naturally  assumed  that  his  chief  loss  would  be  in  States 
which  were  hopeless  under  any  circumstances,  and  that  he 
would  gain  largely  by  the  Free-Silver  Republican  vote  in  the 
Western  States,  which  had  formerly  been  Republican  but 
were  apparently  devoted  to  free  silver.  The  result  proves 
that  this  was  an  error  on  the  part  of  Bryan,  as  it  saved  none 
of  the  Western  States  which  he  would  not  have  carried 
under  any  circumstances,  and  lost  him  some  of  the  strong 
Republican  States  which  he  had  carried  in  1896.  He  under- 

435 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

estimated  the  general  revulsion  against  the  cheap  money 
policy,  but  he  hoped  by  his  active  campaign  to  hold  the 
Western  debatable  States.  In  this  he  calculated  errone- 
ously. He  saved  Colorado  by  less  than  30,000  that  he  had 
carried  by  135,000  four  years  before ;  he  lost  Kansas  by  over 
23,000  that  he  had  formerly  carried  by  over  12,000;  he  lost 
Nebraska,  his  own  State,  by  nearly  8000  that  he  had 
formerly  carried  by  13,500;  he  lost  South  Dakota  by 
15,000  that  he  had  carried  before  by  183;  he  lost  Washing- 
ton by  nearly  13,000  that  he  had  formerly  carried  by  about 
the  same  majority;  he  lost  Wyoming  by  4200  which  he  had 
formerly  carried  by  600,  and  he  lost  Utah  by  over  2000  that 
he  had  carried  by  over  50,000  in  his  first  battle.  The  only 
State  he  gained  in  his  second  battle  was  Kentucky,  that  gave 
an  average  majority  of  280  for  the  Republican  electors  in 
1896,  with  the  single  exception  of  one  Democratic  elector, 
who  was  chosen  and  voted  for  Bryan,  and  gave  8000  for 
Bryan  in  the  last  contest. 

McKinley  bore  himself  in  his  second  battle  with  the  same 
dignity  and  discretion  that  he  exhibited  in  1896.  He  gave 
occasional  political  deliverances  and  always  with  great 
advantage  to  himself  and  his  cause,  but  he  did  not  attempt 
to  canvass  the  country.  Bryan  repeated  his  great  campaign 
of  1896,  and  inspired  his  followers  not  only  by  his  tireless 
and  generally  inspiring  public  addresses,  but  by  his  strong 
personality  that  held  his  followers  even  in  the  face  of  his 
inevitable  defeat.  His  speeches  in  this  campaign  were 
somewhat  sober  as  compared  with  his  aggressive  and  en- 
thusiastic eloquence  in  his  first  contest.  He  proved  that  he 
had  broadened  as  a  politician  in  the  line  of  statesmanship, 
and  there  was  less  of  the  agrarian  fibre  in  the  political 
structure  he  reared  wherever  he  went.  Unlike  most  national 
campaigns  there  was  not  a  single  period  in  the  great  battle 
of  1900  in  which  there  seemed  to  be  a  prospect  of  Bryan's 
success.  Many  times  in  great  national  struggles  there  are 
ebbs  and  flows  in  political  tides,  but  there  never  was  a  hope- 
ful finger-board  for  Bryan  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of 
his  contest.  The  preliminary  elections,  now  few  in  number 
compared  with  the  olden  times,  when  decisive,  are  none  the 
less  unerring  in  pointing  to  the  coming  national  verdict ;  and 
when  Vermont  and  Maine  rolled  up  their  30,000  Republican 
majority  at  the  September  State  elections,  no  intelligent 
observer  of  political  events  could  doubt  the  judgment  to  be 
rendered  in  November.  McKinley  was  reflected  by  a 

436 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


popular  majority  over  Bryan  of  more  than  800,000,  the 
largest  ever  given  to  a  candidate  for  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  in  the  electoral  college  McKinley  received  292 
votes  with  155  for  Bryan,  being  a  gain  of  21  to  McKinley 
and  a  like  loss  to  Bryan.  The  following  tables  present  the 
official  popular  and  electoral  vote  for  1900 : 


STATES. 

POPULAR  VOTE. 

William  McKinley, 
Republican. 

William  J.  Bryan, 
Democrat. 

John  G.  Woolley, 
Prohibitionist. 

Eugene  V.  Debs, 
Social  Democrat. 

Wharton  Barker, 
Populist. 

Joseph  F.  Malloney, 
Socialist-Labor. 

Seth  H.  Ellis, 
Union  Reform. 

J.  P.  R.  Leonard, 
United  Christian. 

I 

"cS 

1 

53,669 
44,800 
164,755 
93,072 
102,572 
22,537 
7,314 
35,053 
27,198 
597,985 
836,063 
307,773 
185,955 
226,799 
14,233 
65,435 
136,212 
238,866 
316,269 
190,461 
5,753 
314,092 
25,373 
121,835 
3,849 
54,803 
221,707 
821,992 
133.080 
35,891 
543,918 
46,526 
712,665 
33,784 
3,579 
54,530 
18S3M 
120,483 
47  089 

96,368 
81,142 
124,985 
122,733 
74,014 
18,863 
28,007 
81,700 
29,414 
503,061 
309,584 
809,206 
162,601 
234,902 
53,671 
36,822 
122.271 
156,997 
211,685 
112,901 
51,706 
351,913 
37,146 
114,013 
6,347 
35,489 
164,808 
678,386 
157,733 
20,519 
474,882 
33,385 
424,232 
19,812 
47,236 
39,544 
145,744 
267,243 
44,949 
12,849 
146,080 
44.833 
98,791 
159,285 
10,164 

1,407 
584 
5,024 
3,790 
1,617 
546 
2,234 
l[396 
857 
17,626 
13,718 
9,503 
3,605 
2,262 

3,796 
972 

155,340 
127,839 
302,336 
221,382 
180,140 
42,003 
39,226 
122,733 
57,682 
1,131,897 
664,094 
530.867 
353,768 
466,489 
67,904 
105,720 
264,511 
414,271 
544,375 
316,311 
59,103 
683,636 
63,746 
241,430 
i  0,196 
92,353 
401.050 
1,547,912 
292,556 
57,769 
1,040,073 
84,216 
1,173,210 
56,548 
50,815 
96,124 
274,827 
413,139 
93,062 
56,153 
264,095 
107,524 
220,610 
442,894 
24,646 

341 

£rr  :f-ns>as  

7,572 
714 
1,029 
57 
601 



Colorado  

389 

684 
908 



Delaware  

1,070 
4,584 
213 
1,141 
1,438 
613 

Idaho 

1,373 
663 
259 

9,687 
2,374 
2,742 
1,605 
456 

672 
254 

352 

"707 

Indiana  , 

Iowa  

Kentucky 

1,662 

408 





2,585 
4,582 
6,202 
11,659 
8,555 

878 
908 
9,607 
2.826 
3,065 

391 
2,599 
903 
1,329 

1,294 
111 

147 

Massachusetts  
Michigan  

833 





1,644 
4,244 
110 
1,104 

Missouri 

5,965 
298 
3,655 

6,128 
708 
823 





Montana  

Nebraska  

New  Hampshire.  . 
New  Jersey  
New  York  

1,271 
7,183 
22,043 
1,006 
731 
10,203 
2,536 
27.90S 
1,529 

790 
4,609 
12,869 



669 

737 
110 
251 
275 
638 

2,074 
12.622 



North  Carolina.  .. 
North  Dakota  
Ohio 

518 
4,847 
1,494 
4,831 

1,688 

4,284 



Pennsylvania  
Rhode  Island  
South  Carolina... 
South  Dakota  

2,936 
1,423 





1,542 
3,914 
2,644 
205 
368 
2,150 
2,363 
1,585 
10,124 

169 
415 
1,846 
717 

339 
1,360 
20,961 

367 
267 





Texas 

162 
102 





Utah 

42,568 
115.865 
57.456 
119,780 
265.866 
14,483 

Virginia  
Washington  
West  Virginia.... 

2,006 
187 
7,095 

866 



524 



Total 

7,207,386 

6,358,076 

207,174 

94,173 

49,787 

33,319 

5,698 

1,059 

13,956,671 

437 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


Counted  on  February  13,  1901. 


STATES. 

PRESIDENT. 

VICE-PRESIDENT. 

William  McKinley, 
of  Ohio. 

William  Jennings  Bryan, 
of  Nebraska. 

Theodore  Roosevelt, 
of  New  York. 

Adlai  E.  Stevenson, 
of  Illinois. 

Number  entitled  to  vote. 

9 

6 
3 

11 
8 

4 

1 

13 
3 

13 
8 

9 

6 
3 

24 
15 
13 
10 

~6 
8 
15 
14 
9 

11 

8 

4 

4 
13 
3 

13 
8 

11 
8 
9 
4 
6 
3 
4 
13 
3 
24 
15 
13 
10 
13 
8 
6 
8 
15 
14 
9 
9 
17 
3 
8 
3 
4 
10 
36 
11 
3 
23 
4 
32 
4 
9 
4 
12 
15 
3 
4 
12 
4 
6 
12 
3 

California         

Connecticut        

Florida         

— 

Idaho      

Illinois 

24 
15 
13 
10 

6 
8 
15 
14 
9 

8 

4 
10 
36 

~3 
23 
4 
32 
4 

4 

~S 
4 

4 
6 
12 
3 

Indiana               

Kentucky         

Maine          ....        .  .     . 

Massachusetts        ....        

Minnesota    

9 
17 
3 

~3 
11 

9 
17 
3 

~3 
11 

Missouri  

Montana             

8 

4 
10 
36 

3 
23 
4 
32 
4 

4 

Nevada  

New  Jersey    

New  York                     

North  Carolina  

North  Dakota       

Ohio 

Oregon        

9 

12 

15 

9 

12 
15 

12 

Rhode  Island        

South  Carolina  .... 

South  Dakota  

Tennessee     

Texas 

Utah         

3 

4 

4 
6 
12 
3 

Vermont 

Virginia  

12 

Washington    . 

"West  Virginia  

Wisconsin                 

— 

Total  

292 

155 

292 

155 

447 

438 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

President  McKinley  received  this  exceptionally  grand 
popular  tribute  to  his  administration  with  becoming  dignity, 
and  Bryan  gracefully  retired  from  his  second  defeat,  and 
commands  very  general  respect  for  the  dignity  /  he  has 
exhibited  in  his  always  free  criticism  of  the  policy  and 
actions  of  his  successful  opponent.  He  soon  announced  his 
purpose  to  found  a  weekly  political  newspaper,  and  early 
birth  was  given  to  "The  Commoner,"  that  is  now  read  by 
many  thousands  of  his  political  followers. 

There  was  no  friction  of  any  kind  in  the  various  electoral 
colleges  or  in  counting  and  certifying  the  returns  by 
Congress,  and  on  the  4th  of  March,  1901,  President 
McKinley  was  reinaugurated  with  imposing  ceremonies. 

Since  the  second  inauguration  of  Monroe  in  1821,  whose 
nearly  unanimous  election  was  the  logical  fruit  of  the  "Era 
of  Good  Feeling,"  no  administration  ever  started  with 
sunnier  skies  than  those  which  greeted  McKinley 's  advent 
upon  his  second  term  of  the  Presidency.  He  had  been  re- 
elected  after  an  earnest  contest  with  an  able  and  most 
aggressive  competitor,  by  a  popular  majority  four  times 
greater  than  the  combined  vote  of  Monroe  and  all  the  oppo- 
sition. He  had  been  compelled  to  meet  the  gravest  national 
and  international  problems,  alike  of  war  and  peace,  and  he 
had  solved  them  all  with  the  highest  credit  to  himself  and  to 
the  general  satisfaction  of  the  country. 

In  the  early  spring,  after  his  inauguration,  with  no  Con- 
gress or  serious  foreign  or  domestic  questions  to  perplex  him, 
he  decided  to  respond  to  the  very  general  wish  of  the  people 
of  the  country  that  he  should  make  a  tour  to  San  Francisco, 
thence  to  Oregon  and  homeward  by  a  carefully  planned 
itinerary  that  would  bring  him  into  direct  contact  with  the 
largest  number  of  the  people.  He  was  welcomed  by  most 
generous  ovations  along  his  entire  journey  West  through 
the  South,  largely  by  people  who  had  voted  against  his  re- 
election, but  they  respected  and  honored  the  President  who 
manfully  proclaimed  himself  to  be  President  of  the  whole 
people  and  not  of  a  party.  His  speeches  delivered  during 
that  journey  will  be  crystallized  in  history  as  among  the  most 
creditable  exhibitions  of  our  American  statesmanship. 
There  was  not  a  trace  of  the  partisan  exhibited  in  any  of 
them ;  they  were  simply  the  spontaneous  expressions  from 
the  heart  of  a  thoroughly  good,  patriotic  and  devoted  public 

439 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

servant.  His  wife,  a  frail,  clinging  vine  inseparably  inter- 
woven with  his  wealth  of  affection,  accompanied  him,  but 
at  San  Francisco  she  became  critically  ill,  and  for  some  days 
her  life  trembled  in  the  balance.  The  generous  hospitality 
which  was  planned  to  welcome  the  Presidential  party  to  the 
Golden  Gate  was  necessarily  abandoned,  and  the  entire 
country  was  in  keenest  sympathy  with  the  sorrows  of  the 
Chief  Magistrate;  but  finally  the  shadows  lifted,  and  the 
wife  that  long  lingered  on  the  bank  of  the  dark  river  was 
brought  back  in  safety,  but  the  visit  to  Oregon  and  the 
meetings  with  the  people  were  necessarily  abandoned,  and 
the  homeward  journey  was  made  as  speedily  as  possible. 

Soon  after  the  return  to  Washington  the  President  and 
his  wife  repaired  to  their  modest  home  in  Canton,  Ohio, 
where  they  expected  to  spend  the  summer  in  the  enjoyment 
of  their  home  friends  and  the  many  visitors  who  always 
received  hospitable  welcome.  For  some  weeks  he  enjoyed 
his  home  life  comparatively  free  from  the  cares  of  state, 
and  he  was  affectionately  greeted  by  high  and  low  as  he 
walked  the  old  familiar  streets  or  visited  his  farm,  from 
which  he  and  his  wife  derived  much  pleasure.  It  was 
entirely  logical  that  he  should  be  called  upon  to  make  a  visit 
to  the  Pan-American  Exposition  at  Buffalo,  and  he  finally 
fixed  on  September  4  as  the  day  of  his  arrival,  with  the 
announcement  that  he  would  deliver  an  address  on  the 
following  day. 

The  President  and  Mrs.  McKinley  arrived  at  Buffalo  on 
the  day  appointed,  and  he  seemed  to  be  in  excellent  health 
and  spirits,  and  his  wife  even  more  vigorous  than  she  had 
been  before  her  recent  severe  illness.  He  had  every  reason  to 
feel  that  his  public  labors  had  been  well  rewarded  to  himself 
and  to  his  country.  The  grave  issues  which  confronted 
him  during  his  first  administration  had  all  been  met  and 
practically  disposed  of,  and  in  a  manner  that  commanded  not 
only  the  confidence  of  his  country  but  the  respect  of  the 
world.  He  loved  the  people ;  he  came  from  their  own 
ranks,  and  it  was  only  natural  that  he  should  have  the 
keenest  appreciation  of  the  hearty  demonstrations  which  met 
him  wherever  he  went  throughout  the  land.  Like  Lincoln, 
he  had  faith  in  the  people;  he  trusted  them  and  felt  that 
the  safety  of  the  Republic  could  be  confided  to  them  with 
confidence  that  they  would  maintain  their  own  free  institu- 

440 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

tions.  On  the  5th  of  September  he  delivered  his  address 
before  a  vast  multitude  of  tens  of  thousands,  and  there  is 
not  a  line  in  it  that  does  not  breathe  the  purest  patriotism 
and  the  most  generous  devotion  to  country  and  to  humanity. 
He  made  no  appeals  to  ignorance  or  prejudice.  The  entire 
speech  was  carefully  aimed  to  elevate  and  ennoble  the  con- 
victions and  aims  of  the  American  people,  and  it  is  likely 
to  become  memorable  in  our  political  literature  next  only  to 
Lincoln's  immortal  speech  at  Gettysburg. 

On  the  morning  of  Friday,  September  6th,  the  President, 
accompanied  by  Mrs.  McKinley  and  the  members  of  the 
cabinet,  visited  Niagara.  It  was  a  bright  beautiful  day,  and 
the  party  enjoyed  the  visit  to  the  thunders  of  the  Falls  with 
unusual  pleasure.  The  President  and  party  returned  to 
Buffalo  and  reached  the  Exposition  grounds  at  3.30,  where 
the  President  was  to  hold  a  public  reception,  and  more  than 
20,000  people  were  gathered  in  and  around  the  building 
waiting  to  greet  him.  He  entered  the  Temple  of  Music 
accompanied  by  President  Milburn  of  the  Exposition  and 
Secretary  Cortelyou,  and  the  Temple's  great  organ  gave  out 
the  sweet  music  of  pur  national  air  as  the  throngs  jostled 
to  reach  the  President  and  shake  him  by  the  hand. 
President  Milburn  stood  at  McKinley's  left  with  Secretary 
Cortelyou  at  his  right,  and  Secret  Service  Officer  Ireland 
was  close  at  hand  with  Officer  Foster  a  little  more  distant, 
both  intent  on  protecting  the  President.  In  the  midst  of  the 
crowd  a  young  man  approached  to  whom  the  President 
offered  his  hand,  but  instead  of  receiving  the  extended  hand, 
the  young  man  raised  his  right  hand,  which  was  apparently 
bandaged  with  a  handkerchief,  and  before  any  could  realize 
what  had  happened,  fired  two  bullets  both  of  which  entered 
the  body  of  the  President.  The  first  passed  through  both 
walls  of  the  stomach  lodging  in  the  back ;  the  second  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  diverted  by  a  waistcoat  button  and 
glanced,  resulting  in  an  abrasion  upon  the  sternum.  The 
President's  assassin  proved  to  be  an  anarchist  named  Leon 
F.  Czolgosz.  Before  he  could  fire  a  third  shot  he  was  seized 
by  the  detectives  and  narrowly  escaped  being  torn  to  pieces 
by  the  angered  mob. 

The  President  stood  for  a  few  moments  after  the  shot  had 
been  fired,  and  then  fell  into  the  arms  of  his  friends,  and  his 

441 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

first  words  were  to  his  Secretary,  "Cortelyou,  be  careful ; 
tell  Mrs.  McKinley  gently."  His  next  utterance  was  called 
out  by  the  maddened  assailants  of  the  assassin.  The  Presi- 
dent seeing  that  Czolgosz  was  likely  to  be  killed  in  his  pres- 
ence, feebly  raised  his  right  hand  and  said,  "Let  no  one 
hurt  him."  The  assassin  was  with  much  difficulty  taken 
from  the  inflamed  crowd  and  safely  lodged  in  prison,  and 
McKinley  was  hastened  to  the  Hospital,  where  he  was 
fortunate  in  having  at  once  the  most  skilful  medical  and 
surgical  attendance  from  Doctors  Mynter,  Wasdin  and 
Mann.  The  President  was  shot  at  4.10  P.  M.  and  within  an 
hour  he  was  etherized  and  an  operation  performed  to  ascer- 
tain the  course  of  the  bullet  and  the  extent  of  the  injury. 
All  realized  that  the  wound  was  very  serious  and  likely  to 
be  fatal.  A  short  time  after  the  operation  the  wounded 
President  was  removed  to  the  residence  of  President  Mil- 
burn,  and  Dr.  Rixy,  who  had  been  in  personal  attendance 
upon  Mrs.  McKinley  since  her  illness  in  San  Francisco,  was 
charged  with  the  delicate  and  painful  duty  of  informing  her 
that  the  President  had  been  stricken  down  by  an  assassin. 
In  her  feeble  condition  it  was  feared  that  she  would  be  utterly 
prostrated  by  the  sad  news,  but  she  rose  to  heroic  qualities 
and  said,  "Tell  me  all,  keep  nothing  from  me.  I  will  be 
brave ;  yes,  I  will  be  brave  for  his  sake."  She  was  then  told 
the  entire  truth,  and  she  bore  up  under  the  crushing  blow 
with  wonderful  courage. 

While  the  country  and  the  world  realized  the  peril  of  the 
President,  the  bulletins  from  the  attending  surgeons  were  in 
some  degree  hopeful,  and  they  were  watched  with  intense 
interest,  not  only  throughout  the  entire  country  that  honored 
and  loved  the  President,  but  from  the  entire  civilized  world 
there  were  expressions  of  sincerest  sympathy.  On  Sunday 
the  reports  of  the  surgeons  were  even  more  encouraging  and 
they  seemed  hopeful  of  the  President's  recovery.  On  Mon- 
day the  reports  continued  more  favorable;  so  much  so  that 
Vice-President  Roosevelt,  who  had  been  summoned  at  once 
and  had  been  in  attendance  with  the  cabinet,  and  Senator 
Hanna,  his  closest  personal  friend,  left  the  President,  be- 
lieving that  his  recovery  was  assured.  Favorable  reports 
continued  to  come  on  Tuesday  and  Wednesday,  and  on 
Thursday  morning  the  welcome  announcement  was  made 
that  the  President  was  able  to  take  a  little  solid  food,  and 

442 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

seemed  to  have  passed  the  danger  point.  At  3  o'clock  on 
the  same  day  the  fatal  turn  began,  and  by  evening  there  were 
unmistakable  indications  of  weakness  of  the  heart  that  re- 
fused to  respond  to  treatment.  On  Friday  morning  the 
country  was  appalled  by  the  announcement  that  the  President 
was  sinking,  and  that  there  was  little  hope  of  his  recovery. 
The  bulletins  issued  frequently  during  the  day  gave  no  en- 
couragement to  the  anxious  public,  and  at  5.35  the  attending 
surgeons  were  compelled  to  confess  his  condition  to  be  hope- 
less. At  7  o'clock  he  rallied  for  a  few  minutes  and  saw  his 
broken-hearted  wife  for  the  last  time  on  earth.  At  8 
o'clock  it  was  noticed  that  his  lips  were  moving  although  he 
was  too  feeble  to  give  utterance,  and  when  the  attendants 
bent  down  over  him  they  learned  that  he  was  faintly  chanting 
his  favorite  hymn,  "Nearer  My  God  To  Thee."  Soon  there- 
after he  seemed  to  summon  all  his  energies  for  a  final  fare- 
well, and  he  whispered:  "Good-by,  all  good-by;  it's  God's 
way ;  His  will  be  done."  He  then  relapsed  into  unconscious- 
ness, and  continued  so  until  2.15  Saturday  morning  when  he 
calmly  passed  into  the  eternal  sleep. 

The  President's  remains  lay  in  state  in  Buffalo  during 
Sunday,  and  on  Monday  they  were  borne  by  special  train  to 
Washington  accompanied  by  President  Roosevelt,  Mrs. 
McKinley  and  others.  They  were  taken  to  the  White 
House  for  the  night,  and  on  the  following  day  they  lay  in 
state  in  the  rotunda  of  the  Capitol,  whence  they  were  borne 
with  most  imposing  ceremonies.  Tuesday  night  the  remains 
were  taken  directly  to  Canton  accompanied  by  President 
Roosevelt;  on  Wednesday  lay  in  state  in  the  Court  House, 
and  on  Thursday  the  funeral  services  were  held  in  the 
Methodist  Church  with  which  the  President  had  long  been  in 
membership,  after  which  they  were  taken  to  the  receiving 
vault  of  the  Westlawn  Cemetery  to  await  final  burial  by  the 
side  of  his  two  children.  Such  was  the  tragic  end  of  the  life 
of  one  of  the  purest,  noblest  and  most  beloved  of  our 
American  Presidents. 

Just  two  weeks  and  three  days  after  the  assassin  had  fired 
the  fatal  bullet  into  the  President  he  was  arraigned  for  trial, 
and  being  without  counsel,  Ex- Judge  Lorain  L.  Lewis  and 
Robert  C.  Titus  were  assigned  by  Presiding  Judge  Emery  to 
the  unwelcome  task  of  defending  the  prisoner.  On  the 
following  day  the  case  was  submitted  to  the  jury,  and  after 

443 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

twenty-nine  minutes'  absence  the  jury  returned  a  verdict  of 
"guilty  of  murder  in  the  first  degree."  Czolgosz  gave  his 
life  in  expiation  of  his  horrible  crime.  He  was  electro- 
cuted in  the  Auburn  Prison  at  7.12  A.M.,  October  29th. 
Only  once  during  his  confinement  did  he  express  regret  that 
he  had  taken  the  life  of  the  President,  while  he  repeatedly 
declared  that  he  was  opposed  to  the  oppressions  of  govern- 
ment and  that  he  had  only  done  his  duty. 


THEODORE   ROOSEVELT 


PRESIDENT  ROOSEVELT  SUCCEEDS 
McKINLEY 

Theodore  Roosevelt,  Vice-President  of  the  United  States, 
became  President  as  the  constitutional  successor  of  McKin- 
ley,  soon  after  his  arrival  in  Buffalo,  September  14,  1901. 
He  thus  became  the  twenty-fifth  President  of  the  United 
States  and  the  fifth  Vice-President  who  has  succeeded  to  the 
first  office  of  the  Republic  by  the  death  of  the  President. 
When  the  announcement  of  the  shooting  of  the  President 
was  first  made,  Vice-President  Roosevelt  was  in  Vermont 
with  some  friends,  and  he  immedately  hastened  to  Buffalo 
where  he  remained  for  several  days  until  the  recovery  of 
the  President  was  accepted  as  so  reasonably  certain  as  to 
warrant  Senator  Hanna  and  several  cabinet  officers  in  return- 
ing to  their  homes.  Entirely  confident  that  the  President 
would  be  able  to  be  taken  to  his  home  in  Ohio  in  a  few 
days,  and  that  his  recovery  was  assured,  Roosevelt  went  to 
join  his  family  in  the  Adirondacks.  On  Friday,  the  day  be- 
fore the  President  died,  when  the  relapse  brought  him  to  the 
verge  of  death,  messages  were  hastened  and  multiplied  to 
Roosevelt,  but  he  had  that  morning  gone  out  into  the 
mountains  with  a  hunting  party,  and  he  was  not  found  until 
late  in  the  day,  when  he  was  advised  that  all  hope  of  the 
President's  recovery  had  been  abandoned.  Special  trains 
hastened  him  to  Albany  and  thence  to  Buffalo,  where  he 
arrived  at  2  o'clock  on  Saturday  afternoon,  about  ten  hours 
after  the  death  of  the  President.  He  refused  to  take  the 
oath  of  office  in  Albany  when  on  his  way  to  Buffalo,  and 
when  he  arrived  his  first  call  was  to  the  broken  and  de- 
spairing widow.  He  then  went  to  the  house  of  Ansley 
Wilcox,,  whose  guest  he  had  been  on  his  previous  visit, 
and  there,  in  the  presence  of  the  members  of  the  cabinet 
and  a  few  others,  the  solemn  oath  of  office  was  administered 
to  him  by  Judge  Hazen.  He  repeated  the  oath  in  a  tremu- 
lous voice,  and  when  it  had  been  administered  he  said: 

445 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

"I  wish  to  say  that  it  shall  be  my  aim  to  continue,  absolutely 
unbroken,  the  policy  of  President  McKinley  for  the  peace, 
prosperity  and  the  honor  of  our  beloved  country/'  The  new 
President  accompanied  the  funeral  cortege  to  Washington 
where  he  became  the  guest  of  his  brother-in-law,  and  after 
attending  the  funeral  cortege  to  Canton,  he  returned  to 
Washington  and  at  once  took  up  the  responsible  duties  which 
had  come  to  him  through  the  tears  of  the  bereaved  nation. 

President  Roosevelt  speedily  won  the  confidence  of  the 
country  by  his  prompt  and  always  conservative  action  in 
meeting  all  the  questions  which  presented  themselves  in  the 
beginning  of  the  new  administration.  He  fully  realized  the 
fact  that  the  country  had  faith  in  President  McKinley  and 
had  approved  his  general  policy  with  great  emphasis,  and  he 
invited  the  continuance  of  that  confidence  to  himself  by  not 
only  declaring  that  he  would  scrupulously  maintain  the 
policy  of  the  McKinley  administration,  but  he  proved  his 
earnestness  in  that  purpose  by  specially  requesting  the  mem- 
bers of  the  cabinet  not  to  send  their  resignations  to  him,  as 
has  always  been  done  on  such  occasions,  and  to  consider 
themselves  as  continued  in  office  precisely  as  though  he  had 
himself  chosen  them  for  their  respective  departments.  The 
result  was  that  there  was  little  tremor  in  business  conditions, 
and  nothing  approaching  the  convulsion  that  has  always 
hitherto  followed  the  death  of  a  President  and  the  change  to 
an  administration  whose  policy  was  unknown.  It  was  cer- 
tainly known  to  the  new  President,  as  it  was  known  to  all 
intelligent  observers  of  existing  conditions,  that  there  was 
some  measure  of  distrust  in  business  circles  as  to  the  policy  of 
President  Roosevelt.  He  was  best  known  to  the  country  gen- 
erally as  "Teddy,  the  Rough  Rider,"  and  with  the  sensitiveness 
that  is  always  exhibited  in  financial  and  commercial  circles, 
there  would  have  been  considerable  business  revulsion  but 
for  the  prompt  and  heroic  attitude  assumed  by  him  immedi- 
ately upon  reaching  the  succession,  and  the  unfaltering 
fidelity  with  which  he  maintained  his  declared  purpose.  It 
required  President  Arthur  fully  one  year  to  command  the 
confidence  of  the  great  business  and  industrial  interests  of 
the  country  after  he  succeeded  Garfield,  but  Roosevelt  be- 
came strongly  entrenched  in  the  trust  of  the  people  and  their 
great  interests  within  a  fortnight. 

Theodore  Roosevelt  is  the  youngest  of  all  our  Presidents, 
having  reached  that  high  office  before  he  was  43  years  of  age. 

446 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

Pierce  and  Garfield  became  President  at  49 ;  Cleveland  at 
48,  and  Grant  at  47.  All  the  other  Presidents  of  the  United 
States  reached  that  position  when  over  50  years  of  age,  the 
oldest  being  the  elder  Harrison,  who  was  68.  Roosevelt 
was  born  in  New  York  City  on  the  27th  of  October,  1858. 
He  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1880,  and  at  once  entered  into 
political  conflicts.  He  became  New  York  State  Representa- 
tive in  1882  where  he  served  three  consecutive  terms,  and 
was  one  of  the  most  aggressive  of  the  reformers  of  that  day. 
He  was  the  author  of  the  State  civil  service  reform  system 
and  of  the  first  act  regulating  primary  elections  by  law.  He 
also  enforced  important  reforms  in  the  profligate  manage- 
ment of  the  municipal  affairs  in  his  city.  In  1884  he  was 
chairman  of  the  New  York  delegation  to  the  national  con- 
vention that  nominated  Elaine,  and  while  many  of  his 
political  associates  deserted  Elaine  in  that  contest  he  adhered 
to  the  party  organization  and  supported  the  ticket.  In  1886 
he  was  nominated  as  the  Republican  candidate  for  Mayor, 
but  Tammany  was  in  the  zenith  of  its  power  and  he  was 
defeated.  Later  he  became  a  member  of  the  National  Civil 
Service  Commission,  and  performed  his  duties  with  great 
fidelity  in  establishing  the  civil  service  system  when  it  had 
few  friends  among  the  active  members  of  any  party,  except- 
ing those  who  were  in  office  and  wanted  to  remain.  He  was 
appointed  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy  when  the 
McKinley  cabinet  was  formed,  and  was  invaluable  in  that 
capacity  in  making  preparations  for  the  Spanish  war. 
When  war  actually  came  he  resigned  his  position  to  become 
Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the  Regiment  known  as  the  Rough 
Riders,  made  up  largely  of  far  Western  riflemen.  Major- 
General  Wood,  now  Provisional  Governor  in  "Cuba,  was 
Colonel  of  the  regiment,  but  he  was  soon  detached  by  pro- 
motion and  Roosevelt  commanded  the  Rough  Riders  in  the 
bloody  engagement  at  Santiago  on  the  first  of  July,  1898. 
He  was  always  in  the  front  of  the  firing  line,  and  endeared 
himself  to  his  soldiers  by  his  sublime  courage  in  every 
emergency. 

Roosevelt  achieved  great  popularity  by  his  military  career 
in  Cuba,  and  his  nomination  for  Governor  of  New  York 
was  practically  enforced  by  the  dominant  sentiment  of 
the  party  without  being  specially  desired  by  many  of  the 
leaders.  He  was  elected  by  nearly  20,000  majority,  and  his 
record  as  Governor  was,  like  all  his  official  records,  entirely 

30  447 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

clean  and  free  from  the  stain  of  reproach.  He  was  not 
always  in  entire  sympathy  with  his  party  leaders,  but  he  had 
the  advantage  over  them  of  being  right,  and  he  had  the 
courage  to  maintain  the  right  regardless  of  consequences. 
He  had  been  somewhat  discussed  for  the  Presidency,  but  with 
no  reasonable  hope  of  making  him  a  candidate  until  after 
McKinley's  second  term.  He  was  chairman  of  the  New 
York  delegation  in  the  Philadelphia  convention  of  1900  that 
nominated  McKinley  for  President,  and  himself  for  Vice- 
President,  and  he  was  most  positive  and  earnest  in  his  refusal 
to  be  considered  as  a  candidate  for  the  second  place  on  the 
ticket.  There  were  some  peculiar  complications  in  the  situa- 
tion which  did  not  appear  on  the  surface.  A  large  number 
of  the  Western  delegates  were  shouting  for  Roosevelt  for 
President  and  only  the  strongly  entrenched  position  of 
McKinley  in  the  confidence  of  the  party  prevented  a  stam- 
pede to  Roosevelt  for  the  first  place  on  the  ticket.  The 
New  York  delegation  was  practically  controlled  by  Senator 
Platt  and  the  Pennsylvania  delegation  by  Senator  Quay,  both 
of  whom  were  not  in  entire  political  accord  with  Senator 
Hanna  and  the  administration,  and  they  made  common 
cause  with  the  Roosevelt  element  in  the  convention,  resulting 
in  Senator  Hanna  finally  accepting  Roosevelt  as  the  candi- 
date for  Vice-President,  although  he  had  earnestly  urged 
that  either  Bliss  or  Allison  should  be  taken  for  that  place. 

The  nomination  of  Roosevelt  for  Vice-President  was  not 
the  programme  of  those  who  represented  the  administration, 
although  it  would  not  be  fair  to  assume  that  there  were  any 
strained  relations  between  McKinley  and  Roosevelt.  The 
result  was  that  McKinley  on  a  poll  of  the  convention  received 
the  vote  of  every  delegate,  and  that  Roosevelt  was  nominated 
for  Vice-President  on  a  like  poll,  receiving  every  vote  in  the 
convention  but  his  own.  He  never  gave  his  assent  to  his 
candidacy  although  he  was  compelled  to  bow  to  the  mandate 
of  the  convention.  He  had  no  concealment  on  the  subject; 
he  confessed  himself  as  a  candidate  for  President  in  the 
future,  and  he  logically  assumed  that  he  would  be  in  a  much 
better  position  for  political  advancement  to  remain  as  Gov- 
ernor of  New  York,  to  which  position  he  would  have  been 
renominated  and  reflected,  than  by  accepting  the  second 
office  of  the  Government  that  is  now  generally  regarded  as  an 
asylum  of  political  retirement. 

That  his  name  added  much  strength  to  the  national  ticket 

448 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

was  speedily  developed,  as  his  greatest  popularity  was  in  the 
West,  where  he  was  well  known  as  a  successful  ranchman 
and  as  one  of  the  boldest  of  mountain  hunters,  and  where 
the  Republicans  had  been  greatly  demoralized  and  disinte- 
grated by  the  free-silver  issue,  giving  a  number  of  naturally 
strong  Republican  States  to  Bryan  in  1896.  He  made  many 
speeches  during  the  contest,  and  acquitted  himself  with  great 
credit.  He  was  a  stranger  to  equivocation  br  dissembling  in 
any  form  on  the  hustings,  and  his  straightforward,  concise 
arguments  carried  great  weight  with  the  people.  The  vic- 
tory was  won  by  the  largest  popular  majority  ever  given  to  a 
national  candidate,  and  now  in  the  strange  mutations  of  our 
political  history,  Theodore  Roosevelt,  in  the  noon-tide  of  life, 
is  called  to  the  Presidency  for  nearly  a  full  term,  respected 
by  all  of  every  faith  for  his  unblemished  integrity,  his  fear- 
less devotion  to  his  honest  convictions  in  the  performance  of 
public  duties,  and  for  the  heroic  stand  he  has  taken  to  con- 
tinue the  administration  of  the  Government  in  strict  accord- 
ance with  the  well-defined  and  heartily-approved  policy  of 
the  martyred  President  whose  place  he  fills. 


THE  ROOSEVELT-PARKER  CONTEST 

1904 


THE  Socialists  were  first  in  the  field  with  their  can- 
didates for  the  Presidential  battle  of  1904.  Their  conven- 
tion met  at  Chicago  on  Monday,  May  2d.  The  preliminary 
work  of  the  convention  began  on  Sunday  evening,  May  ist, 
when  the  delegates  met  at  a  banquet  at  Brandt's  Hall,  and 
where  the  clash  between  conflicting  Socialist  interests 
began  that  lasted  during  a  full  week,  as  the  convention  did 
not  close  until  Saturday.  It  was  largely  made  up  of  the 
radical  wing  of  the  Social  element,  and  the  actions  of  the 
body  were  controlled  from  beginning  to  end  by  Eugene 
V.  Debs,  who  was  made  the  nominee  for  President.  There 
were  a  number  of  women  delegates  who  very  actively 
participated  in  the  proceedings  of  the  convention  and 
discussed  with  great  freedom  the  more  radical  Socialistic 
views,  especially  relating  to  marriage  and  divorce.  Joseph 
F.  Carey,  of  Massachusetts,  presided  over  the  convention, 
with  Charles  Dobbs,  of  New  York,  as  secretary,  and 
Frank  Waldhorst,  of  Alabama,  and  Ira  B.  Cross,  of  Wis- 
consin, as  reading-clerks  and  assistant  secretaries. 

The  proceedings  were  anything  but  harmonious,  and 
on  one  occasion,  after  a  full  day  of  very  free  and  often 
embittered  discussion,  the  convention  was  adjourned  to 
protect  it  from  violent  and  riotous  conflict  among  the 
delegates.  Several  organized  attempts  were  made  to 
overthrow  the  mastery  of  Mr.  Debs,  but  he  defeated  his 
assailants  in  every  struggle,  and  after  four  days  of  conflict 
in  the  regular  sessions  of  the  convention,  Eugene  V.  Debs, 
of  Indianapolis,  Indiana,  was  nominated  for  President, 
and  Ben  Hanford,  of  Brooklyn,  New  York,  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent.  The  party  that  nominated  this  ticket  is  known 
as  the  Socialist  party  in  all  the  States  where  such  an 
organization  exists,  with  the  exception  of  New  York  and 

450 


AND    HOW    WE    MAKE   THEM 

Wisconsin,  where  it  is  officially  known  as  the  Social  Demo- 
cratic party.  The  platform  is  very  elaborate  and  revo- 
lutionary in  tone  from  beginning  to  end.  It  is  divided 
into  four  distinct  parts,  but  the  first  very  clearly  defines 
the  faith  and  aims  of  the  organization,  as  follows: 

The  Socialist  party,  in  convention  assembled,  makes  its  appeal 
to  the  American  people  as  the  defender  and  preserver  of  the  idea 
of  liberty  and  self-government,  in  which  the  nation  was  born;  as  the 
only  political  movement  standing  for  the  programme  and  principles 
by  which  the  liberty  of  the  individual  may  become  a  fact;  as  the 
only  political  organization  that  is  democratic,  and  that  has  for 
its  purpose  the  democratizing  of  the  whole  of  society. 

To  this  idea  of  liberty  the  Republican  and  Democratic  parties 
are  equally  false.  They  alike  struggle  for  power  to  maintain  and 
profit  by  an  industrial  system  which  can  be  preserved  only  by  the 
complete  overthrow  of  such  liberties  as  we  already  have,  and  by 
the  still  further  enslavement  and  degradation  of  labor. 

Our  American  institutions  came  into  the  world  in  the  name  of 
freedom.  They  have  been  seized  upon  by  the  capitalist  class  as 
the  means  of  rooting  out  the  idea  of  freedom  from  among  the 
people.  Our  state  and  national  legislatures  have  become  the 
mere  agencies  of  great  propertied  interests.  These  interests  con- 
trol the  appointments  and  decisions  of  the  judges  of  our  courts. 
They  have  come  into  what  is  practically  a  private  ownership  of  all 
the  functions  and  forces  of  government.  They  are  using  these  to 
betray  and  conquer  foreign  and  weaker  peoples,  in  order  to  estab- 
lish new  markets  for  the  surplus  goods  which  the  people  make,  but 
are  too  poor  to  buy.  They  are  gradually  so  invading  and  re- 
stricting the  right  of  suffrage  as  to  take  away  unawares  the  right 
of  the  worker  to  a  vote  or  voice  in  public  affairs.  By  enacting 
new  and  misinterpreting  old  laws,  they  are  preparing  to  attack 
the  liberty  of  the  individual  even  to  speak  or  think  for  himself, 
or  for  the  common  good. 

By  controlling  all  the  sources  of  social  revenue,  the  possessing 
class  is  able  to  silence  what  might  be  the  voice  of  protest  against 
the  passing  of  liberty  and  the  coming  of  tyranny.  It  completely 
controls  the  university  and  public  school,  the  pulpit  and  the  press, 
and  the  arts  and  literatures.  By  making  these  economically  de- 
pendent upon  itself,  it  has  brought  all  the  forms  of  public  teaching 
into  servile  submission  to  its  own  interests. 

Our  political  institutions  are  also  being  used  as  the  destroyers 
of  that  individual  property  upon  which  all  liberty  and  opportunity 
depend.  The  promise  of  economic  independence  to  each  man  was 
one  of  the  faiths  upon  which  our  institutions  were  founded.  But, 
under  the  guise  of  defending  private  property,  capitalism  is  using 
our  political  institutions  to  make  it  impossible  for  the  vast  ma- 
jority of  human  beings  ever  to  become  possessors  of  private  prop- 
erty in  the  means  of  life. 

Capitalism  is  the  enemy  and  destroyer  of  essential  private 
property.  Its  development  is  through  the  legalized  confiscation 
of  all  that  the  labor  of  the  working  class  produces,  above  its  sub- 

451 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

sistence-wage.  The  private  ownership  of  the  means  of  employ- 
ment grounds  society  in  an  economic  slavery  which  renders  in- 
tellectual and  political  tyranny  inevitable. 

Socialism  comes  so  to  organize  industry  and  society  that  every 
individual  shall  be  secure  in  that  private  property  in  the  means 
of  life  upon  which  his  liberty  of  being,  thought,  and  action  depend. 
It  comes  to  rescue  the  people  from  the  fast  increasing  and  successful 
assault  of  capitalism  upon  the  liberty  of  the  individual. 


The  Republican  National  Convention  met  in  Chicago 
oiTJune  2ist,  and  it  remained  in  session  three  days.  Every 
State  and  Territory  was  fully  represented,  and  in  the  list 
of  alternates  were  a  number  of  women  from  Colorado, 
Wyoming,  and  Idaho,  where  female  suffrage  prevails, 
some  of  whom  sat  and  acted  as  delegates  during  the  ab- 
sence of  their  principals^  It  was  a  notably  strong  con- 
vention, with  the  ablest  of  the  Republican  leaders  from 
every  section  of  the  country  participating  in  the  pro- 
ceedings. It  lacked  somewhat  in  the  earnest  enthusiasm 
that  is  common  in  national  conventions  where  there  are 
exciting  contests  over  candidates  or  platforms.  The 
work  of  this  convention  was  purely  perfunctory.  Every 
important  act  it  performed,  and  every  important  utter- 
ance that  came  from  it,  were  predetermined  and  prac- 
tically accepted  with  entire  unanimity  before  the  con- 
vention met.  It  was  the  only  one  of  all  the  Republican 
National  Conventions  that  did  not  have  more  or  less  ex- 
citing contests,  and  many  of  them  were  convulsed  by  des- 
perate struggles  between  candidates  and  the  advocates  of 
opposing  party  policy. 

In  the  first  national  convention  of  the  party,  in  Phila- 
delphia, the  nomination  of  Fremont  was  earnestly  con- 
tested by  the  friends  of  Judge  McLean.  In  the  second 
convention,  held  in  Chicago,  in  1860,  one  of  the  fiercest 
battles  ever  witnessed  in  a  representative  body  was  pre- 
cipitated by  the  struggle  between  Lincoln  and  Seward. 
In  1864,  while  Lincoln  was  renominated  by  practically  a 
unanimous  vote  at  Baltimore,  there  was  a  very  earnest 
contest  on  the  Vice-Presidency,  resulting  in  the  overthrow 
of  Vice-President  Hamlin  and  the  nomination  of  Andrew 
Johnson.  In  1868  Grant  was  given  a  unanimous  nom- 
ination in  Chicago  for  the  Presidency,  but  the  contest  for 
Vice-President,  chiefly  between  Coif  ax  and  Wade,  agitated 
the  convention  until  the  final  ballot;  and  in  1872  Grant 

452 


AND   HOW   WE    MAKE   THEM 

was  unanimously  nominated  at  Philadelphia,  but  the 
struggle  by  the  friends  of  Henry  Wilson  to  defeat  Vice- 
President  Colfax  was  exceptionally  desperate  and  em- 
bittered. In  1876  the  Blaine  convention  at  Cincinnati 
was  adroitly  diverted  from  its  purpose  chiefly  by  the 
power  of  the  Grant  administration,  and  Hayes  finally 
accepted  as  a  compromise.  In  1880  there  was  a  battle- 
royal  in  Chicago  between  the  Old  Guard  that  supported 
Grant  for  a  third  term  and  the  friends  of  Blaine,  and 
after  a  week  of  desperate  struggle,  Garfield  was  unani- 
mously accepted.  In  1884  Blaine  won  the  nomination,  in 
Chicago,  that  was  earnestly  contested  by  the  friends  of 
President  Arthur,  and  in  1888,  when  the  convention  again 
met  in  Chicago,  it  required  several  days  of  caucus  and 
conference  to  nominate  Harrison  over  Sherman.  In  1892 
Blaine,  then  broken  in  health  and  hope,  made  his  last  battle 
in  Minneapolis  against  Harrison,  who  won  the  nomination 
only  to  lose  the  election.  In  1896  McKinley  was  winner 
at  St.  Louis,  after  a  struggle  that  long  trembled  in  the 
balance  between  him  and  Speaker  Reed;  and  in  1900,  when 
McKinley  was  unanimously  renominated  in  Philadelphia, 
a  desperate  struggle  between  disputing  factional  leaders 
over  the  Vice-Presidency  resulted  in  the  triumph  of  Sen- 
ators Quay  and  Platt,  who  defeated  the  H anna- Adminis- 
tration programme  by  forcing  the  nomination  of  Roosevelt 
for  Vice-President  against  his  own  protest  and  recorded 
vote  in  the  convention. 

Soon  after  Vice-President  Roosevelt  succeeded  to  the 
Presidency,  after  the  assassination  of  McKinley  at  the 
Buffalo  Exposition,  he  became  an  aggressive  candidate  for 
the  Presidential  nomination  to  succeed  himself,  and  he 
developed  extraordinary  positive  qualities  in  dictating 
poiltical  movements  in  the  party.  He  had  nearly  a  full 
Presidential  term  before  him,  with  all  the  vast  power  of 
the  government  that  is  now  so  essential  to  enable  party 
leaders  to  maintain  their  master}7  in  their  respective 
States,  and  while  many,  perhaps  a  majority,  of  them 
would  have  preferred  another  candidate,  it  soon  became 
well  understood  that  the  hearty  support  of  Roosevelt  as 
the  next  candidate  of  the  party  was  an  absolute  necessity 
to  command  the  patronage  of  the  administration.  The 
result  was  the  speedy  lining  up  of  the  leaders  in  favor 
of  the  nomination  of  Roosevelt,  and  for  two  years  before 

453 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

the  convention  met  no  other  candidates  were  seriously 
discussed  or  considered. 

<""  (jLoosevelt  developed  as  not  only  an  aggressive  leader 
1  in  the  general  direction  of  party  policy  and  movements, 
^but  he  gave  attention  to  all  the  details  of  the  party  ma- 
chinery, and,  against  the  judgment  of  a  large  majority  of 
the  National  Committee,  he  dictated  the  selection  of  George 
B.  Cortelyou,  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor  in  the 
cabinet,  as  chairman  of  the  National  Committee,  clearly 
indicating  that  his  purpose  was  to  be  masterful  in  the 
direction  of  the  campaign. A  In  like  manner  he  practically 
dictated  the  platform  of  tfTe  party  that  was  prepared  and 
presented  to  the  convention  by  Senator  Lodge,  of  ^tassachu- 
setts,  his  closest  personal  and  political  friend^  He  also 
selected  ex-Governor  Black,  of  New  York,  to  present  his 
(Roosevelt's)  name  to  the  convention,  and  publicly  an- 
nounced his  plan  to  have  Harry  S.  Cummings,  a  colored 
member  of  the  Baltimore  bar,  to  be  one  of  the  conven- 
tion to  second  the  nomination.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  Roose- 
velt convention,  and  no  one  thought  of  taking  an  im- 
portant step  in  the  deliberations  of  the  body  without 
knowing  that  it  met  the  President's  approval.  There  have 
been  many  riper  politicians  than  Roosevelt  who  have 
been  elected  and  re-elected  to  the  Presidency,  but  no 
one  of  them  ever  developed  his  power  in  directing  all  the 
details  of  party  action.  While  his  attribute  of  a  Presi- 
dent is  not  always  acceptable  to  party  leaders,  it  gives 
him  the  important  advantage  of  being  presented  to  the 
country  as  a  man  whose  admitted  ability  is  directed  by 
indomitable  purpose,  thus  clearly  divesting  him  of  every 
quality  of  individual  or  official  weakness. 

At  noon  on  June  2ist  the  convention  was  called  to 
order  by  Henry  C.  Payne,  of  Wisconsin,  chairman  of  the 
National  Republican  Committee,  and  Roosevelt's  Post- 
master-General, who,  after  a  brief  address  declared  the 
unanimous  election  of  Elihu  Root,  of  New  York,  former 
Secretary  of  War,  as  temporary  chairman.  Root  was 
admittedly  the  ablest  member  of  the  administration  alike 
in  the  cabinets  of  McKinley  and  Roosevelt,  and  he  was 
called  as  temporary  presiding  officer  to  enable  him  to 
deliver  a  carefully  prepared  address  vindicating  the  past 
record  of  the  Republican  party  and  indicating  its  future 
policy.  It  was  an  address  of  masterly  force,  and  was  at 

454 


AND   HOW   WE    MAKE   THEM 

once  accepted  as  the  key-note  of  the  party  in  the  cam- 
paign. The  usual  committees  on  organization,  platform, 
contested  seats,  etc.,  were  then  announced,  but  the  work 
of  each  and  all  of  them  had  been  practically  determined 
before  the  convention  met.  There  were  contested  dele- 
gations from  Wisconsin,  Louisiana,  and  Delaware,  but 
the  struggle  never  reached  the  floor  of  the  convention. 
In  fact  the  Chicago  Republican  National  Convention  of 
1904  was  the  only  national  convention  I  can  recall  in 
which  there  was  not  a  single  battle  on  any  question  fought 
out  on  the  floor. 

The  entire  programme  of  the  party  could  have  been 
carried  to  completion  in  a  single  day,  but  Chicago  had 
contributed  very  liberally  to  secure  the  convention,  and 
one  of  the  conditions  demanded  and  accepted  was  that 
it  should  continue  in  session  at  least  three  days.  Good 
faith  to  the  Chicago  contributors  only  made  the  conven- 
tion have  three  days'  session.  On  the  second  day  Joseph 
G.  Cannon,  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
was  chosen  permanent  president  according  to  the  pro- 
gramme, and  delivered  one  of  the  most  caustic  and  im- 
pressive political  speeches  ever  delivered  before  such  a 
body.  Its  mingled  wit  and  invective  and  plain,  blunt 
truths  expressed  in  homely  earnestness,  delighted  the 
vast  assemblage,  and  gave  the  first  opportunity  for  a 
hearty  outburst  of  enthusiasm.  Beyond  the  address  of 
President  Cannon  the  business  of  the  second  day  was 
devoted  in  a  perfunctory  way  to  disposing  of  the  reports 
of  various  committees,  leaving  only  the  work  of  nom- 
inating candidates  for  President  and  Vice-President  on 
the  following  day.  As  there  was  nothing  remaining  but 
to  cast  a  single  ballot  by  States  for  President  and  Vice- 
President,  with  the  chairmen  of  the  delegations  only  visible 
in  the  work,  many  of  the  delegates  left  for  their  homes, 
leaving  their  alternates  to  take  their  places. 

On  the  third  day  the  convention  was  called  to  order  by 
President  Cannon,  and  immediately  plunged  into  a  field- 
day  of  speeches  from  able  representatives  of  the  party, 
nominating  and  seconding  the  nominations  of  candidates 
for  President  and  Vice-President.  Ex-Governor  Black 
presented  the  name  of  Roosevelt  to  the  convention,  and 
was  followed  by  Senator  Beveridge,  of  Indiana;  George  A. 
Knight,  of  California;  Harry  S.  Edwards,  of  Georgia;  ex- 

455 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

Governor  Bradley,  of  Kentucky;  Joseph  B.  Cotton,  of 
Minnesota;  and  Harry  S.  Cummings,  colored,  of  Maryland. 
The  ballot  followed,  resulting  in  the  full  vote  of  every 
State  and  Territory  being  recorded  for  the  nomination  of 
Roosevelt.  The  announcement  was  received  with  great 
enthusiasm.  The  name  of  Charles  Warren  Fairbanks, 
United  States  Senator  from  Indiana,  was  then  presented 
to  the  convention  as  the  candidate  for  Vice-President  by 
Senator  Dolliver,  of  Iowa,  and  the  nomination  was  sec- 
onded in  able  speeches  by  Senator  Depew,  of  New  York; 
Senator  Foraker,  of  Ohio;  ex-Senator  Carter,  of  Montana; 
and  Governor  Penny  packer,  of  Pennsylvania,  after  which 
the  roll  was  called  and  the  full  vote  of  every  State  and 
Territory  was  recorded  for  Fairbanks,  thus  completing 
the  national  ticket. 

There  was  some  disposition  to  criticise  and  revise  the 
elaborate  platform  prepared  by  Senator  Lodge,  of  Massa- 
chusetts, acting  under  the  guidance  of  President  Roose- 
velt, and  a  compromise  was  finally  adopted  that  appeared 
to  be  satisfactory  to  all.  Some  of  the  Western  Repub- 
licans were  very  earnest  in  support  of  the  policy  of  mod- 
erating the  tariff  and  extending  the  policy  of  reciprocity 
that  was  inaugurated  on  a  liberal  basis  by  President 
McKinley,  while  a  majority  of  the  leaders  were  known  as 
"stand-patters,"  refusing  to  entertain  the  question  of  any 
modification  of  the  present  tariff.  It  was  finally  agreed, 
however,  that  tariff  revision  should  be  approved  when 
necessary,  but  only  when  revised  by  the  party  that  fa- 
vors protection.  The  following  is  the  full  text  of  the 
platform : 

Fifty  years  ago  the  Republican  party  came  into  existence, 
dedicated  among  other  purposes  to  the  great  task  of  arresting  the 
extension  of  human  slavery.  In  1860  it  elected  its  first  President. 
During  twenty-four  years  of  the  forty-four  years  which  have 
elapsed  since  the  election  of  Lincoln  the  Republican  party  has  held 
complete  control  of  the  government.  For  eighteen  more  of  the 
forty-four  years  it  has  held  partial  control  through  the  possession 
of  one  or  two  branches  of  the  government,  while  the  Democratic 
party  during  the  same  period  has  had  complete  control  for  only 
two  years. 

This  long  tenure  of  power  by  the  Republican  party  is  not  due 
to  chance.  It  is  a  demonstration  that  the  Republican  party  has 
commanded  the  confidence  of  the  American  people  for  nearly  two 
generations  to  a  degree  never  equalled  in  our  history,  and  has  dis- 
played a  high  capacity  for  rule  and  government  which  has  been 


AND    HOW    WE    MAKE   THEM 


made  even  more  conspicuous  by  the  incapacity  and  infirmity  of 
purposes  shown  by  its  opponents. 

The  Republican  party  entered  upon  its  present  period  of  com- 
plete supremacy  in  1897.  We  have  every  right  to  congratulate 
ourselves  upon  the  work  since  then  accomplished,  for  it  has  added 
lustre  even  to  the  traditions  of  the  party  which  carried  the  govern- 
ment through  the  storms  of  civil  war. 

The  country,  after  four  years  of  Democratic  rule,  was  in  evil 
plight,  oppressed  with  misfortune,  and  doubtful  of  the  future. 
Public  credit  had  been  lowered,  the  revenues  were  declining,  and 
the  debt  was  growing,  the  standard  of  values  was  threatened  and 
uncertain,  labor  was  unemployed,  business  was  sunk  in  the  de- 
pression which  had  succeeded  the  panic  of  1893,  hope  was  faint,  and 
confidence  was  gone. 

We  met  these  unhappy  conditions  vigorously,  effectively,  and 
at  once.  We  replaced  a  Democratic  tariff  law,  based  on  free-trade 
principles  and  garnished  with  sectional  protection,  by  a  consistent 
protective  tariff,  and  industry,  freed  from  oppression  and  stim- 
ulated by  the  encouragement  of  wise  laws,  has  expanded  to  a 
degree  never  before  known,  has  conquered  new  markets,  and  has 
created  a  volume  of  exports  which  has  surpassed  imagination. 
Under  the  Dingley  tariff,  labor  has  been  fully  employed,  wages 
have  risen,  and  all  industries  have  revived  and  prospered. 

We  firmly  established  the  gold  standard,  which  was  then  men- 
aced with  destruction.  Confidence  returned  to  business,  and  with 
confidence  an  unexampled  prosperity.  For  deficient  revenues, 
supplemented  by  improvident  issue  of  bonds,  we  gave  the  country 
an  income  which  produced  a  large  surplus  and  which  enabled  us 
only  four  years  after  the  Spanish  war  had  closed  to  remove  over 
one  hundred  millions  of  annual  war  taxes,  reduce  the  public  debt, 
and  lower  the  interest  charges  of  the  government. 

The  public  credit,  which  had  been  so  lowered  that  in  time  of 
peace  a  Democratic  administration  made  large  loans  at  extrava- 
gant rates  of  interest  in  order  to  pay  current  expenditures,  rose 
under  Republican  administration  to  its  highest  point,  and  enabled 
us  to  borrow  at  two  per  cent.,  even  in  time  of  war. 

We  refused  to  palter  longer  with  the  miseries  of  Cuba.  We 
fought  a  quick  and  victorious  war  with  Spain.  We  set  Cuba  free, 
governed  the  island  for  three  years,  and  then  gave  it  to  the  Cuban 
people  with  order  restored,  with  ample  revenues,  with  education 
and  public  health  established,  free  from  debt,  and  connected  with 
the  United  States  by  wise  provisions  for  our  mutual  interests. 
We  have  organized  trie  government  of  Porto  Rico,  and  its  people 
now  enjoy  peace,  freedom,  order,  and  prosperity. 

In  the  Philippines  we  have  suppressed  insurrection,  established 
order,  and  given  to  life  and  property  a  security  never  known  there 
before.  We  have  organized  civil  government,  made  it  effective, 
and  strong  in  administration,  and  have  conferred  upon  the  people 
of  those  islands  the  largest  civil  liberty  they  have  ever  enjoyed. 

By  our  possession  of  the  Philippines  we  were  enabled  to  take 
prompt  and  effective  action  in  the  relief  of  the  legations  at  Pekin 
and  a  decisive  part  in  preventing  the  partition  and  preserving  the 
integrity  of  China. 

The  possession  of  a  route  for  an  Isthmian  Canal,  so  long  the 

457 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 


dream  of  American  statesmanship,  is  now  an  accomplished  fact. 
The  great  work  of  connecting  the  Pacific  and  Atlantic  by  a  canal 
is  at  last  begun,  and  it  is  due  to  the  Republican  party. 

We  have  passed  laws  which  will  bring  the  arid  lands  of  the 
United  States  within  the  area  of  cultivation. 

We  have  reorganized  the  army  and  put  it  in  the  highest  state  of 
efficiency. 

We  have  passed  laws  for  the  improvement  and  support  of  the 
militia. 

We  have  pushed  forward  the  building  of  the  navy,  the  defence 
and  protection  of  our  honor  and  our  interests. 

Our  administration  of  the  great  departments  of  the  government 
has  been  honest  and  efficient,  and  whatever  wrong-doing  has  been 
discovered,  the  Republican  administration  has  not  hesitated  to 
probe  the  evil  and  bring  the  offenders  to  justice  without  regard  to 
party  or  political  ties. 

Laws  enacted  by  the  Republican  party  which  the  Democratic 
party  failed  to  enforce,  and  which  were  intended  for  the  protection 
of  the  public  against  the  unjust  discrimination  or  the  illegal  en- 
croachment of  vast  aggregations  of  capital  have  been  fearlessly 
enforced  by  a  Republican  President,  and  new  laws,  insuring  rea- 
sonable publicity  as  to  the  operations  of  great  corporations  and 
providing  additional  remedies  for  the  prevention  of  discrimina- 
tion in  freight  rates  have  been  passed  by  a  Republican  Con- 
gress. 

In  this  record  of  achievement  during  the  past  eight  years  may 
be  read  the  pledges  which  the  Republican  party  has  fulfilled.  We 
promise  to  continue  these  policies,  and  we  declare  our  constant 
adherence  to  the  following  principles: 

Protection  which  guards  and  develops  our  industries  is  a  cardinal 
policy  of  the  Republican  party.  The  measure  of  protection  should 
always  at  least  equal  the  difference  in  the  cost  of  production  at 
home  and  abroad. 

We  insist  upon  the  maintenance  of  the  principles  of  protection, 
and,  therefore,  rates  of  duty  should  be  readjusted  only  when  con- 
ditions have  so  changed  that  the  public  interest  demands  their 
alteration,  but  this  work  cannot  safely  be  committed  to  any  other 
hands  than  those  of  the  Republican  party. 

To  intrust  it  to  the  Democratic  party  is  to  invite  disaster. 
Whether,  as  in  1892,  the  Democratic  party  declared  the  protective 
tariff  unconstitutional,  or  whether  it  demands  tariff  reform  or 
tariff  revision,  its  real  object  is  always  the  destruction  of  the  pro- 
tective system.  However  specious  the  name,  the  purpose  is  ever 
the  same. 

A  Democratic  tariff  has  always  been  followed  by  business  ad- 
versity; a  Republican  tariff  by  business  prosperity.  To  a  Re- 
publican Congress  and  a  Republican  President  this  great  question 
can  be  safely  intrusted.  When  the  only  free-trade  country  among 
the  great  nations  agitates  a  return  to  protection,  the  chief  pro- 
tective country  should  not  falter  in  maintaining  it. 

We  have  extended  widely  our  foreign  markets,  and  we  believe 
in  the  adoption  of  all  practicable  methods  for  their  further  ex- 
tension, including  commercial  reciprocity,  wherever  reciprocal 
arrangements  can  be  effected  consistent  with  the  principles  of 

458 


AND   HOW   WE    MAKE   THEM 


protection  and  without  injury  to  American  agriculture,  American 
labor,  or  any  American  industry. 

We  believe  it  to  be  the  duty  of  the  Republican  party  to  uphold 
the  gold  standard  and  the  integrity  and  value  of  our  national  cur- 
rency. The  maintenance  of  the  gold  standard,  established  by  the 
Republican  party,  cannot  safely  be  committed  to  the  Democratic 
party,  which  resisted  its  adoption,  and  has  never  given  any  proof 
since  that  time  of  belief  in  it  or  fidelity  to  it. 

While  every  other  industry  has  prospered  under  the  fostering 
aid  of  Republican  legislation,  American  shipping  engaged  in 
foreign  trade  in  competition  with  the  low  cost  of  construction, 
low  wages,  and  heavy  subsidies  of  foreign  governments  has  not  for 
many  years  received  from  the  government  of  the  United  States 
adequate  encouragement  of  any  kind.  We,  therefore,  favor  legis- 
lation which  will  encourage  and  build  the  American  merchant 
marine,  and  we  cordially  approve  the  legislation  of  the  last  Congress 
which  created  the  Merchant  Marine  Commission  to  investigate 
and  report  upon  this  subject. 

A  navy  powerful  enough  to  defend  the  United  States  against 
any  attack,  to  uphold  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  and  watch  over  our 
commerce  is  essential  to  the  safety  and  the  welfare  of  the  American 
people.  To  maintain  such  a  navy  is  the  fixed  policy  of  the  Repub- 
lican party. 

We  cordially  approve  the  attitude  of  President  Roosevelt  and 
Congress  in  regard  to  the  exclusion  of  Chinese  labor,  and  promise 
a  continuance  of  the  Republican  policy  in  that  direction. 

The  Civil  Service  law  was  placed  on  the  statute  books  by  the 
Republican  party,  which  has  always  sustained  it,  and  we  renew 
our  former  declarations  that  it  shall  be  thoroughly  and  honestly 
enforced. 

We  are  always  mindful  of  the  country's  debt  to  the  soldiers  and 
sailors  of  the  United  States,  and  we  believe  in  making  ample  pro- 
vision for  them  and  in  the  liberal  administration  of  the  Pension 
laws. 

We  favor  the  peaceful  settlement  of  international  differences  by 
arbitration. 

We  commend  the  vigorous  efforts  made  by  the  Administration 
to  protect  American  citizens  in  foreign  lands,  and  pledge  ourselves 
to  insist  upon  the  just  and  equal  protection  of  all  our  citizens 
abroad.  It  is  the  unquestioned  duty  of  the  government  to  pro- 
cure for  all  our  citizens,  without  distinction,  the  rights  of  travel 
and  sojourn  in  friendly  countries,  and  we  declare  ourselves  in 
favor  of  all  proper  efforts  to  that  end. 

Our  great  interests  and  our  growing  commerce  in  the  Orient 
render  the  condition  of  China  of  high  importance  to  the  United 
States.  We  cordially  commend  the  policy  pursued  in  that  direc- 
tion by  the  administration  of  President  McKinley  and  President 
Roosevelt. 

We  favor  such  Congressional  action  as  shall  determine  whether 
by  special  discrimination  the  elective  franchise  in  any  State  has 
been  unconstitutionally  limited,  and,  if  such  is  the  case,  we  de- 
mand that  representation  in  Congress  and  in  the  electoral  colleges 
shall  be  proportionally  reduced  as  directed  by  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States. 

459 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 


Combinations  of  capital  and  of  labor  are  the  results  of  the  eco- 
nomic movement  of  the  age,  but  neither  must  be  permitted  to  in- 
fringe upon  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  people.  Such  com- 
binations when  lawfully  formed  for  lawful  purposes  are  alike 
entitled  to  the  protection  of  the  laws,  but  both  are  subject  to  the 
laws  and  neither  can  be  permitted  to  break  them. 

The  great  statesman  and  patriotic  American,  William  McKinley, 
who  was  re-elected  by  the  Republican  party  to  the  Presidency  four 
years  ago,  was  assassinated  just  at  the  threshold  of  his  second 
term.  The  entire  nation  mourned  his  untimely  death  and  did 
that  justice  to  his  great  qualities  of  mind  and  character  which 
history  will  confirm  and  repeat. 

The  American  people  were  fortunate  in  his  successor,  to  whom 
they  turned  with  a  trust  and  confidence  which  have  been  fully 
justified.  President  Roosevelt  brought  to  the  great  responsibil- 
ities thus  sadly  forced  upon  him  a  clear  head,  a  brave  heart,  an 
earnest  patriotism,  and  high  ideals  of  public  duty  and  public  ser- 
vice. True  to  the  principles  of  the  Republican  party  and  to  the 
policies  which  that  party  had  declared,  he  has  also  shown  himself 
ready  for  every  emergency,  and  has  met  new  and  vital  questions 
with  ability  and  with  success. 

The  confidence  of  the  people  in  his  justice,  inspired  by  his  public 
career,  enabled  him  to  render  personally  an  inestimable  service  to 
the  country  by  bringing  about  a  settlement  of  the  coal  strike  which 
threatened  such  disastrous  results  at  the  opening  of  the  winter 
in  1902 

Our  foreign  policy  under  his  administration  has  not  only  been 
able,  vigorous,  and  dignified,  but  in  the  highest  degree  successful. 
The  complicated  questions  which  arose  in  Venezuela  were  settled 
in  such  a  way  by  President  Roosevelt  that  the  Monroe  Doctrine 
was  signally  vindicated  and  the  cause  of  peace  and  arbitration 
greatly  advanced. 

His  prompt  and  vigorous  action  in  Panama,  which  we  com- 
mend in  the  highest  terms,  not  only  secured  to  us  the  canal  route, 
but  avoided  foreign  complications  which  might  have  been  of  a  very 
serious  character. 

He  has  continued  the  policy  of  President  McKinley  in  the  Orient, 
and  our  position  in  China,  signalized  by  our  recent  commercial 
treaty  with  that  empire,  has  never  been  so  high. 

He  secured  the  tribunal  by  which  the  vexed  and  perilous  question 
of  the  Alaskan  boundary  was  finally  settled. 

Whenever  crimes  against  humanity  have  been  perpetrated 
which  have  shocked  our  people,  his  protest  has  been  made  and 
our  good  offices  have  been  tendered,  but  always  with  due  regard 
to  international  obligations. 

Under  his  guidance  we  find  ourselves  at  peace  with  all  the  world, 
and  never  were  we  more  respected  or  our  wishes  more  regarded  by 
foreign  nations. 

Pre-eminently  successful  in  regard  to  our  foreign  relations,  he 
has  been  equally  fortunate  in  dealing  with  domestic  questions. 
The  country  has  known  that  the  public  credit  and  the  national 
currency  were  absolutely  safe  in  the  hands  of  his  administra- 
tion. 

In  the  enforcement  of  the  laws  he  has  shown  not  only  courage, 

460 


AND    HOW   WE    MAKE   THEM 

but  the  wisdom  which  understands  that  to  permit  laws  to  be  vio- 
lated or  disregarded  opens  the  door  to  anarchy,  while  the  just  en- 
forcement of  the  law  is  the  soundest  conservatism. 

He  has  held  firmly  to  the  fundamental  American  doctrine  that 
all  men  must  obey  the  law;  that  there  must  be  no  distinction  be- 
tween rich  and  poor,  between  strong  and  weak,  but  that  justice 
and  equal  protection  under  the  law  must  be  secured  to  every 
citizen,  without  regard  to  race,  creed,  or  condition. 

His  Administration  has  been  throughout  vigorous  and  honorable, 
high-minded,  and  patriotic.  We  commend  it  without  reservation 
to  the  considerate  judgment  of  the  American  people. 

The  Prohibition  National  Convention  met  at  Indianap- 
oplis,  Indiana,  on  June  29th.  It  was  a  mass-convention 
and  was  not  so  largely  attended  as  have  been  some  of  the 
like  conventions  in  the  past,  although  many  of  the  Pro- 
hibition leaders  of  national  fame  were  present.  Oliver 
W.  Stewart,  chairman  of  the  National  Committee,  called 
the  convention  to  order,  when  Homer  L.  Castle,  of  Pitts- 
burg,  was  chosen  president,  who  delivered  an  elaborate 
address  declaring  the  prohibition  question  to  be  the  one 
live  issue  before  the  people  of  the  nation.  It  was  gen- 
erally expected  that  Lieutenant-General  Nelson  A.  Miles 
would  be  the  nominee  of  the  party  for  President,  but  a 
letter  written  by  him  a  short  time  before  the  meeting  of 
the  convention  indicated  his  unwillingness  to  accept  the 
candidacy.  After  organization  the  convention  adjourned 
and  met  on  the  following  day,  when  a  telegram  was  re- 
ceived from  General  Miles  declining  to  permit  the  use  of 
his  name  as  a  Prohibition  candidate.  W.  W.  Hague,  of 
Pennsylvania,  nominated  Rev.  Silas  C.  Swallow,  D.D., 
for  President,  a  prominent  Methodist  minister  of  Penn- 
sylvania, who  had  been  the  Prohibition  candidate  for 
Governor  and  State-Treasurer,  and  polled  an  unusually 
large  vote  in  each  contest.  His  nomination  was  made 
unanimous  without  the  formality  of  a  ballot.  The  names 
of  George  W.  Carroll,  of  Texas;  I.  H.  Amos,  of  Oregon; 
and  Benjamin  F.  Parker,  of  Wisconsin,  were  presented 
for  Vice-President,  and  on  the  first  ballot  Carroll  received 
626  votes;  Amos,  132;  and  Parker,  i;  when  the  nomina- 
tion of  Carroll  was  made  unanimous.  A  despatch  was 
received  from  Dr.  Swallow  indicating  a  possibility  of  his 
declination,  and  the  national  committee  was  authorized 
to  fill  any  vacancy  that  might  occur  on  the  ticket.  The 
following  platform  was  unanimously  adopted: 

461 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 


The  Prohibition  party,  in  national  convention  assembled,  at 
Indianapolis,  June  30,  1904,  recognizing  that  the  chief  end  of  all 
government  is  the  establishment  of  those  principles  of  righteous- 
ness and  justice  that  have  been  revealed  to  man  as  the  will  of  the 
ever  living  God,  and  desiring  His  blessing  on  our  national  life,  and 
believing  in  the  perpetuation  of  the  high  ideals  of  government  of 
the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people,  established  by  our 
fathers,  makes  the  following  declaration  of  principles  and  purposes: 

1.  The  widely  prevailing  system  of  the  licensed  and  legalized 
sale  of  alcoholic  beverages  is  so  ruinous  to  individual  interests,  so 
inimical  to  public  welfare,  so  destructive  to  national  wealth,  and 
so  subversive  to  the  rights  of  great  masses  of  our  citizenship,  that 
the  destruction  of  the  traffic  is  and  for  years  has  been  the  most 
important  question  in  American  politics. 

2.  We  denounce  the  lack  of  statesmanship  exhibited  by  the 
leaders  of  the  Democratic  and  Republican  parties  in  their  refusal 
to  recognize  the  paramount  importance  of  this  question  and  the 
cowardice  with  which  the  leaders  of  these  parties  have  courted  the 
favor  of  those  whose  selfish  interests  are  advanced  by  the  contin- 
uation and  augmentation  of  the  traffic,  until  to-day  the  influence 
of  the  liquor  traffic  practically  dominates  national,   State,   and 
local  government  throughout  the  nation. 

3.  We  declare  the  truth,  demonstrated   by  the  experience  of 
half  a  century,  that  all  methods  of  dealing  with  the  liquor  traffic 
which  recognize  its  right  to  exist,  in  any  form,  under  any  system 
of  license  or  tax  or  regulation,  have  proved  powerless  to  remove 
its  evils  and  useless  as  checks  on  its  growth,  while  the  insignificant 
public  revenues  which  have  accrued  therefrom  have  seared  the 
public  conscience  against  a  recognition  of  its  iniquity. 

4.  We  call  public  attention  to  the  fact,  proved  by  the  experience 
of  more  than  fifty  years,  that  to  secure  the  enactment  and  enforce- 
ment of  prohibitory  legislation  in  which  alone  lies  hope  of  the  pro- 
tection of  the  people  from  the  liquor  traffic,  it  is  necessary  that  the 
legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  branches  of  the    government 
should  be  in  the  hands  of  a  political  party  in  harmony  with  the 
prohibition  principle  and  pledged  to  its  embodiment  in  laws  and  to 
the  execution  of  those  laws. 

5.  We  pledge  the  Prohibition  party,  wherever  given  power  by 
the  suffrage  of  the  people,  to  the  enactment  and  enforcement  of 
laws   prohibiting   and   abolishing   the   manufacture,  importation, 
transportation,  and  sale  of  alcoholic  beverages. 

6.  We  declare  that  there  is  not  only  no  other  issue  of  equal 
importance  before  the  American  people  to-day,  but  that  the  so- 
called  issues  on  which  the  Democratic  and  Republican  parties  seek 
to  divide  the  electorate  of  the  country  are  in  large  part  subterfuges 
under  the  coyer  of  which  they  wrangle  for  the  spoils  of  office. 

7.  Recognizing  that  the  intelligent  voters  of  the  country  may 
properly  ask  our  attitude  on  other  questions  of  public  concern, 
we  declare  ourselves  in  favor  of: 

The  impartial  enforcement  of  all  law. 

The  safeguarding  of  the  people's  rights  by  a  rigid  application 
of  the  principles  of  justice  to  all  combinations  and  organizations 
of  capital  and  labor. 

A  more  intimate  relation  between  the  people  and  government 

462 


AND    HOW    WE    MAKE   THEM 


by  a  wise  adaptation  of  the  principle  of  the  initiative  and  referen- 
dum. 

The  safeguarding  to  every  citizen  in  every  place  under  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  people  of  the  United  States  of  all  the  rights  guaran- 
i  by  the  laws  and  the  Constitution. 

International  arbitration,  and  we  declare  that  our  nation  should 
contribute  in  every  manner  consistent  with  national  dignity  to 
the  permanent  establishment  of  peace  between  all  nations. 

The  reform  of  our  divorce  laws,  the  final  extirpation  of  polygamy, 
and  the  total  overthrow  of  the  present  shameful  system  of  illegal 
sanction  of  the  social  evil  (with  its  unspeakable  traffic  in  girls) 
by  the  municipal  authorities  of  almost  all  our  cities. 

We  declare  ourselves  in  favor  of  recognition  of  the  fact  that  the 
right  of  suffrage  should  depend  on  the  mental  and  moral  qualifi- 
cations of  the  citizens. 

We  declare  ourselves  in  favor  of  such  changes  in  our  laws  as  will 
place  tariff  schedules  in  the  hands  of  an  omnipartisan  commission. 

We  declare  ourselves  in  favor  of  the  application  of  uniform  laws 
for  all  our  country  and  dependencies. 

We  declare  ourselves  in  favor  of  the  extension  and  honest  ad- 
ministration of  the  civil  service  laws. 

We  declare  ourselves  in  favor  of  the  election  of  United  States 
Senators  by  vote  of  the  people. 


The  Populists  held  their  national  convention  at  Spring- 
field, Illinois,  on  July  4th.  Although  a  powerful  political 
factor  in  the  first  Bryan  contest  of  1896,  with  two  distinct 
factions  which  together  gave  Bryan  a  large  percentage 
of  his  vote,  the  party  gradually  dwindled  away  until  at 
the  Springfield  convention  there  were  not  over  two  hun- 
dred delegates  in  attendance,  and  many  more  than  half 
the  States  were  without  representation,  but  the  leaders  of 
every  phase  of  Populism  seize  every  opportunity  for  dress 
parade,  and  the  motions  of  a  national  convention  were 
gone  through  with  at  Springfield  with  as  much  pretension 
as  if  they  had  prospect  of  hopefully  contesting  a  number 
of  States,  when  in  point  of  fact  there  is  hardly  a  county, 
probably  not  a  township,  in  the  country  where  they  could 
poll  a  majority  of  the  votes. 

The  convention  was  called  to  order  by  Vice-Chairman 
J.  S.  Edmondson,  of  Nebraska,  and  ex-Congressman  L.  H. 
Weller,  of  Iowa,  was  made  president,  and  Charles  Q. 
Defrance,  of  Nebraska,  secretary,  after  which  an  elaborate 
address  was  delivered  by  ex-Senator  Allen,  of  Nebraska, 
when  the  convention  adjourned  until  the  following  day. 
Three  names  were  prominently  discussed  for  the  Presi- 
dential nomination:  ex-Senator  William  D.  Allen,  of 

31  463 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

Nebraska;  Samuel  W.  Williams,  of  Indiana;  and  Thomas 
E.  Watson,  of  Georgia,  but  Allen  and  Watson  refused  to 
have  their  names  brought  into  a  contest,  while  both  ex- 
pressed a  willingness  to  accept  the  nomination  if  unani- 
mously tendered.  The  three  names  were  presented  to 
the  convention  by  their  respective  friends,  but  after  pro- 
ceeding with  the  ballot,  Watson  exhibited  a  decided  lead, 
and  his  nomination  was  made  unanimous,  and  Thomas  F. 
Tribbles,  of  Nebraska,  was  nominated,  without  the  for- 
mality of  a  ballot,  for  Vice-President. 

The  platform  is  a  mere  repetition  of  the  Populist  declara- 
tions in  favor  of  the  government  possessing  all  railways, 
telegraphs,  and  other  public  improvements,  giving  em- 
ployment to  everybody  who  wants  it,  at  the  highest  wages, 
and  money  to  be  issued  in  abundance  by  the  government 
only,  and  all  its  various  forms  to  be  a  legal  tender.  With 
all  the  ingenuity  of  the  many  leaders  of  this  party  who 
have  risen  and  in  turn  given  way  to  others,  not  one  was 
able  to  suggest  a  single  new  political  fallacy  to  be  incor- 
porated into  the  Populist  platform  of  1904.  The  text  of 
the  platform  is  omitted  simply  because  it  was  only  a 
repetition  of  the  many  utterances  of  Populism  in  the 
past. 

(The  Democratic  National  Convention  met  at  St.  Louis 
on  July  6th.  The  struggle  inside  the  Democratic  lines 
to  control  the  candidates  and  platform  of  the  party  was  a 
very  earnest  one?  William  J.  Bryan,  the  defeated  leader 
of  the  party  in  the  contests  of  1896  and  1900,  devoted  his 
time  for  some  two  years  before  the  convention  met  to 
speaking  in  different  sections  of  the  country,  with  weekly 
deliverances  in  the  columns  of  his  newspaper  printed  at 
Lincoln,  Nebraska,  demanding  that  the  party  must  re- 
adopt  the  platform  on  which  he  had  twice  led  it  to  dis- 
aster, and  he  aggressively  criticised  Chief- Justice  Parker, 
although  Parker  had  uniformly  voted  the  Democratic 
ticket,  including  Bryan,  from  the  time  that  Parker  became 
a  formidable  candidate.  He  carried  his  hostility  to 
Parker  to  the  extent  of  announcing  a  public  meeting  in 
New  York  only  a  few  weeks  before  the  meeting  of  the  con- 
vention, where  he  appeared  and  devoted  his  speech  to  the 
criticism  of  Parker  and  his  supporters. 

Bryan  was  greatly  aided  by  William  Randolph  Hearst, 
the  owner  of  daily  newspapers  in  New  York,  Boston, 

464 


AND    HOW    WE    MAKE   THEM 

Chicago,  San  Francisco,  and  Los  Angeles,  who  had  secured 
the  favor  of  Tammany  to  the  extent  of  sending  him  to 
Congress,  and  he  entered  the  Presidential  field  with  most 
aggressive  and  expensive  methods,  and  managed  to  con- 
trol nearly  one-third  of  the  vote  of  the  convention.  He 
co-operated  with  Bryan  in  open  hostility  to  Parker,  and 
in  Bryan's  general  cheap  money  and  Populistic  views,  and 
it  was  only  by  the  aid  thus  furnished  by  Hearst  that  Bryan 
was  enabled  to  have  a  respectable  following  in  his  many 
side  fights  in  the  convention. 

Before  the  delegates  were  a  day  at  St.  Louis  it  became 
well  understood  that  Bryan's  domination  of  the  party  was 
ended,  and  the  only  question  to  be  considered  was  whether 
he  should  be  tolerated  and  die  within  the  party  lines,  or 
be  thrown  outside  the  Democratic  breastworks.  He  was 
treated  with  great  courtesy  during  the  various  sessions 
of  the  convention,  heard  patiently,  and  some  concessions 
were  made  to  him  in  the  final  revision  of  the  platform,  but 
when  the  final  struggle  came  over  the  unexpected  telegram 
from  Judge  Parker,  declaring  his  devotion  to  the  gold 
standard,  and  Bryan  was  aroused  to  make  his  final  effort 
against  the  acceptance  of  an  honest  money  policy,  the 
overwhelming  vote  by  which  his  appeal  was  rejected  was 
emphatic  notice  to  himself  and  the  world  that  he  had 
ceased  to  be  a  factor  in  Democratic  politics. 

The  convention  was  called  to  order  by  ex-Senator  James 
K.  Jones,  of  Alabama,  chairman  of  the  Democratic  Na- 
tional Committee,  who  presented  John  Sharpe  Williams, 
of  Mississippi,  as  temporary  presiding  officer.  Williams 
is  the  recognized  leader  of  the  Democrats  in  the  popular 
branch  of  Congress,  and  he  was  chosen  as  temporary 
chairman  to  sound  the  key-note  of  the  Democratic  battle 
of  1904,  as  ex-Secretary  Root  was  chosen  to  perform  the 
same  office  in  the  Republican  convention.  The  address 
of  Williams  was  very  elaborate,  and  he  had  the  courage  to 
announce  that  the  present  gold  standard  of  the  country 
had  come  from  a  Democratic  President  and  Congress  in 
1893,  when  the  monthly  purchase  of  silver  for  coinage  into 
silver  dollars  was  repealed.  He  admitted  that  he  and 
many  Democrats  did  not  approve  of  the  policy  at  the 
time,  but  he  declared  that  by  that  act  the  country  was 
brought  to  a  gold  standard,  to  quote  his  own  language, 
"as  it  is  now,  and  as  it  is  destined  to  remain  for  a 

465 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

length  of  time  beyond  my  power  of  computation,  on  a 
gold  basis."  After  the  appointment  of  the  usual  com- 
mittees, the  convention  adjourned  until  the  following 
day. 

When  the  question  of  contested  seats  was  brought  be- 
fore the  convention,  Bryan  suffered  his  first  positive  de- 
feat in  his  effort  to  prevent  the  admission  of  the  regular 
delegation  from  Illinois.  Champ  Clark,  of  Missouri,  was 
made  the  permanent  president  and  delivered  an  eloquent 
and  incisive  address  in  support  of  the  policy  of  the  party. 
Further  proceedings  on  the  second  day  were  delayed  by 
the  failure  of  the  committee  on  platform  to  agree  upon 
report.  After  a  session  of  many  hours  the  committee, 
under  the  lead  of  Senator  Daniels,  of  Virginia,  and  with 
the  assent  of  ex-Senator  Hill,  of  New  York,  the  recognized 
Parker  leader  of  the  body,  struck  the  gold  plank  from  the 
platform,  and  a  tariff  plank  presented  by  Bryan  was  ac- 
cepted in  place  of  the  deliverance  on  the  tariff  presented 
in  the  original  platform.  Every  expression  of  the  con- 
vention had  been  in  favor  of  the  gold  standard;  it  was 
known  that  Chief- Justice  Parker  would  speak  with  em- 
phasis on  the  subject  in  accepting  the  nomination  whether 
the  gold  standard  was  in  the  platform  or  not,  and  under 
a  genera!  agreement  that  the  platform  thus  modified  should 
be  presented  and  accepted  without  amendment  or  debate, 
the  committee  made  a  unanimous  report  that  was  promptly 
approved  by  the  convention. 

The  nomination  of  candidates  was  not  reached  until 
Friday,  and  Martin  W.  Littleton,  of  Brooklyn,  presented  the 
name  of  Judge  Parker  in  an  elaborate  speech  that  was  sec- 
onded by  Michael  J.  Ryan,  of  Pennsylvania;  John  W. 
Curran,  of  Indiana;  Thomas  Henry  Ball,  of  Texas;  Henry 
S.  Cummings,  of  Connecticut;  Senator  Carmack,  of  Ten- 
nessee; and  Mr.  Wright,  of  Georgia.  The  name  of  William 
R.  Hearst,  was  presented  by  D.  M.  Delmas,  of  California, 
seconded  by  Clarence  Darrow,  of  Illinois;  Mr.  Fitzgerald, 
of  Rhode  Island;  Mr.  Rhinehart,  of  Iowa;  Mr.  Baird,  of 
Florida;  and  Mr.  Johnson,  of  Kansas.  The  name  of  Judge 
Gray,  of  Delaware,  was  presented  by  ex-Congressman  L.  Ir- 
ving Handy,  of  that  State.  Several  other  candidates  were 
named,  and  the  elaborate  speeches  in  favor  of  the  leading 
candidates  exhausted  nearly  the  whole  night  session,  and 
it  was  not  until  early  on  Saturday  morning  that  a  ballot 

466 


AND    HOW   WE    MAKE   THEM 


was  reached.     The  first  and  only  ballot  for  President  re- 
sulted as  follows: 


Parker 658 

Hearst 204 

Cockerell 42 

Olney 38 

Wall 27 

Williams 8 

Gray 8 


Pattison 4 

Miles 3 

McClellan 3 

Towns 2 

Gorman 2 

Coler..  .  1 


Parker  lacked  only  a  very  few  of  the  necessary  two-thirds 
to  make  a  nomination,  and  various  chairmen  of  delega- 
tions proposed  to  change  the  votes  of  their  delegates  in 
favor  of  Parker,  and  the  result  was  that  a  motion  to  make 
the  nomination  unanimous  was  offered  and  carried  without 
dissent,  and  the  utterly  exhausted  delegates  were  glad  to 
adjourn  and  obtain  a  little  rest  before  daybreak. 

The  final  session  of  the  convention  was  held  early  on 
Saturday  morning,  and  many  of  the  delegates  for  a  time 
were  convulsed  by  the  announcement  made  by  William 
F.  Sheehan,  of  New  York,  that  he  had  received  a  telegram 
from  Parker  that  should  be  submitted  to  the  convention 
for  its  judgment.  Judge  Parker  had  learned  that  the 
gold  standard  had  been  eliminated  from  the  Democratic 
platform,  and  when  advised  of  his  nomination  he  sent  the 
following  despatch  to  Sheehan: 

William  F.  Sheehan,  St.  Louis: 

I  regard  the  gold  standard  as  firmly  and  irrevocably  established, 
and  shall  act  accordingly  if  the  action  of  the  convention  to-day 
shall  be  ratified  by  the  people. 

As  the  platform  is  silent  on  the  subject,  my  views  should  be 
made  known  to  the  convention,  and  if  they  prove  to  be  unsatis- 
factory to  the  majority,  I  request  you  to  decline  the  nomination 
for  me  at  once,  so  that  another  may  be  nominated  before  adjourn- 
ment. ALTON  B.  PARKER. 

Judge  Parker's  telegram  directly  slapped  Bryanism  in  the 
face,  and  if  the  convention  approved  the  stand  taken  by 
its  candidate  it  would  be  a  restoration  of  the  gold  standard 
in  the  Democratic  platform  with  a  degree  of  emphasis 
that  could  not  have  been  given  to  it  by  any  previous 
action  of  the  convention.  After  hasty  consultation  among 
the  leaders  it  was  decided  that  the  telegram  should  be 
presented  to  the  convention,  and  Williams,  of  Mississippi, 

467 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

who  had  been  temporary  chairman,  dictated  the  answer 
that  should  be  sent  to  Parker  by  the  convention.  The 
following  is  the  text  of  the  response  of  the  convention  to 
the  Parker  telegram: 

The  platform  adopted  by  this  convention  is  silent  on  the  ques- 
tion of  the  monetary  standard,  because  it  is  not  regarded  by  us 
as  a  possible  issue  in  this  campaign,  and  only  campaign  issues 
were  mentioned  in  the  platform.  Therefore  there  is  nothing  in 
the  views  expressed  by  you  in  the  telegram  just  received  which 
would  preclude  a  man  entertaining  them  from  accepting  a  nom- 
ination on  said  platform. 

The  bold  answer  was  bitterly  assailed  by  Bryan  and 
others,  but  on  a  call  of  the  States  it  was  adopted  by  774 
to  191,  and  the  gold  standard  was  thus  made  a  conspicuous 
feature  of  the  Democratic  faith. 

The  nominations  for  Vice-President  were  then  in  order, 
and  Congressman  Williams,  of  Illinois,  was  presented  by 
Mr.  Norris,  of  that  State;  ex-Senator  Turner,  of  Washing- 
ton, was  named  by  Mr.  Robertson,  of  that  State;  ex- 
Senator  Davis,  of  West  Virginia,  was  presented  by  Mr. 
Alderson,  of  that  State;  and  ex-Senator  Harris,  of  Kansas, 
was  presented  by  Mr.  Overmeyer,  of  that  State.  The 
first  and  only  ballot  gave  Davis,  645;  Williams,  165; 
Turner,  72;  and  Harris,  58.  As  Davis  lacked  only  a  few 
of  the  necessary  667  votes  to  make  a  nomination,  the 
change  of  votes  promptly  began,  and  the  nomination  of 
Davis  was  made  unanimous,  when  the  convention  ad- 
journed without  day.  The  following  is  the  text  of  the 
platform  as  adopted  by  the  convention: 

The  Democratic  party  of  the  United  States,  in  national  conven- 
tion assembled,  declares  its  devotion  to  the  essential  principles 
of  the  Democratic  faith  which  brings  us  together  in  party  com- 
munion. 

Under  them  local  self-government  and  national  unity  and 
prosperity  were  alike  established.  They  underlaid  our  indepen- 
dence, the  structure  of  our  free  republic,  and  every  democratic 
extension  from  Louisiana  to  California,  and  Texas  to  Oregon, 
which  preserved  faithfully  in  all  the  States  that  tie  between  taxa- 
tion and  representation. 

They  yet  inspire  the  masses  of  our  people,  guarding  jealously 
their  rights  and  liberties  and  cherishing  their  fraternity,  peace, 
and  orderly  development.  They  remind  us  of  our  duties  and  re- 
sponsibilities as  citizens,  and  impress  upon  us,  particularly  at  this 
time,  the  necessity  of  reform  and  the  rescue  of  the  administration 
of  government  from  the  headstrong,  arbitrary,  and  spasmodic 

468 


AND    HOW    WE    MAKE   THEM 


methods  which  distract  business  by  uncertainty  and  pervade  the 
public  mind  with  dread,  distrust,  and  perturbation. 

The  application  of  these  fundamental  principles  to  the  living 
issues  of  the  day  is  the  first  step  towards  the  assured  peace,  safety, 
and  progress  of  our  nation. 

Freedom  of  the  press,  of  conscience,  and  of  speech;  equality 
before  the  law  of  all  citizens;  right  of  trial  by  jury;  freedom  of  the 
person  defended  by  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus;  liberty  of  personal 
contract,  untrammelled  by  sumptuary  laws;  supremacy  of  the  civil 
over  military  authority;  a  well-disciplined  militia;  the  separation 
of  church  and  state;  economy  in  expenditures;  low  taxes,  that 
labor  may  be  lightly  burdened;  prompt  and  sacred  fulfilment  of 
public  and  private  obligations;  fidelity  to  treaties;  peace  and 
friendship  with  all  nations;  entangling  alliances  with  none;  ab- 
solute acquiescence  in  the  will  of  the  majority,  the  vital  principle 
of  republics — these  are  the  doctrines  which  Democracy  has  es- 
tablished, approved  by  the  nation,  and  they  should  be  constantly 
invoked  and  enforced. 

We  favor  enactment  and  administration  of  laws  giving  labor 
and  capital  impartially  their  just  rights.  Capital  and  labor  ought 
not  be  enemies.  Each  is  necessary  to  the  other.  Each  has  its 
rights,  but  the  rights  of  labor  are  certainly  no  less  "  vested,"  no  less 
"sacred,"  and  no  less  "inalienable"  than  the  rights  of  capital. 

Constitutional  guarantees  are  violated  whenever  any  citizen  is 
denied  the  right  to  labor,  acquire,  and  enjoy  property  or  reside 
where  interests  or  inclination  may  determine.  Any  denial  thereof 
by  individuals,  organizations,  or  governments  should  be  summarily 
rebuked  and  punished. 

We  deny  the  right  of  any  executive  to  disregard  or  suspend  any 
constitutional  privileges  or  limitation.  Obedience  to  the  laws 
and  respect  for  their  requirements  are  alike  the  supreme  duty  of 
the  citizen  and  the  official. 

The  military  should  be  used  only  to  support  and  maintain  the 
law.  We  unqualifiedly  condemn  its  employment  for  the  summary 
banishment  of  citizens  without  trial,  or  for  the  control  of  elections. 

We  approve  the  measure  which  passed  the  United  States  Senate 
in  1896,  but  which  a  Republican  Congress  has  ever  since  refused 
to  enact,  relating  to  contempts  in  Federal  courts,  and  providing 
for  trial  by  jury  in  cases  of  indirect  contempt. 

We  favor  liberal  appropriations  for  the  care  and  improvement 
of  the  waterways  of  the  country.  When  any  waterway  like  the 
Mississippi  River  is  of  sufficient  importance  to  demand  special  aid 
of  the  government  such  aid  should  be  extended  with  a  definite 
plan  of  continuous  work  until  permanent  improvement  is  secured. 

We  oppose  the  Republican  policy  of  starving  home  develop- 
ment in  order  to  feed  the  greed  for  conquest  and  the  appetite  for 
national  "prestige"  and  display  of  strength. 

Large  reductions  can  easily  be  made  in  the  annual  expenditures 
of  the  government  without  impairing  the  efficiency  of  any  branch 
of  the  public  service,  and  we  shall  insist  upon  the  strictest  economy 
and  frugality  compatible  with  vigorous  and  efficient  civil,  military, 
and  naval  administration  as  a  right  of  the  people,  too  clear  to  be 
denied  or  withheld. 

We  favor  the  enforcement  of  honesty  in  the  public  service,  and 

469 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 


to  that  end  a  thorough  legislative  investigation  of  those  executive 
departments  of  the  government  already  known  to  teem  with  cor- 
ruption, as  well  as  other  departments  suspected  of  harboring  cor- 
ruption, and  the  punishment  of  ascertained  corruptionists,  without 
fear  or  favor  or  regard  to  persons. 

The  persistent  and  deliberate  refusal  of  both  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives  to  permit  such  investigation  to  be  made 
demonstrates  that  only  by  a  change  in  the  executive  and  legislative 
departments  can  complete  exposure,  punishment,  and  correction 
be  obtained. 

We  condemn  the  action  of  the  Republican  party  in  Congress 
in  refusing  to  prohibit  an  executive  department  from  entering 
into  contracts  with  convicted  trusts  or  unlawful  combinations  in 
restraint  of  interstate  trade.  We  believe  that  one  of  the  best 
methods  of  procuring  economy  and  honesty  in  the  public  service 
is  to  have  public  officials,  from  the  occupant  of  the  White  House 
down  to  the  lowest  of  them,  return  as  nearly  as  may  be  to  Jef- 
fersonian  simplicity  of  living. 

We  favor  the  nomination  and  election  of  a  President  imbued 
with  the  principles  of  the  Constitution  who  will  set  his  face  sternly 
against  executive  usurpation  of  legislative  and  judicial  functions, 
whether  that  usurpation  be  veiled  under  the  guise  of  executive 
construction  of  existing  laws,  or  whether  it  takes  refuge  in  the 
tyrant's  pleas  of  necessity  or  superior  wisdom. 

We  favor  the  preservation,  so  far  as  we  can,  of  an  open  door 
for  the  world's  commerce  in  the  Orient,  without  an  unnecessary 
entanglement  in  Oriental  and  European  affairs,  and  without  arbi- 
trary unlimited,  irresponsible,  and  absolute  government  anywhere 
within  our  jurisdiction.  We  oppose  as  fervently  as  did  George 
Washington  himself  an  indefinite,  irresponsible,  discretionary, 
and  vague  absolutism  and  a  policy  of  colonial  exploitation,  no 
matter  where  or  by  whom  invoked  or  exercised.  We  believe, 
with  Thomas  Jefferson  and  John  Adams,  that  no  government  has 
a  right  to  make  one  set  of  laws  for  those  "at  home"  and  another 
and  different  set  of  laws,  absolute  in  their  character,  for  those  "in 
the  colonies." 

All  men  under  the  American  flag  are  entitled  to  the  protection 
of  the  institutions  whose  emblem  the  flag  is.  If  they  are  inherently 
unfit  for  those  institutions,  then  they  are  inherently  unfit  to  be 
members  of  the  American  body  politic.  Wherever  there  may 
exist  a  people  incapable  of  being  governed  under  American  laws 
in  consonance  with  the  American  Constitution  that  people  ought 
not  to  be  part  of  the  American  domain. 

We  insist  that  we  ought  to  do  for  the  Philippines  what  we  have 
done  already  for  the  Cubans,  and  it  is  our  duty  to  make  that  prom- 
ise now,  and  upon  suitable  guarantees  of  protection  to  citizens  of 
our  own  and  other  countries  resident  there  at  the  time  of  our  with- 
drawal, set  the  Filipino  people  upon  their  feet,  free  and  independent, 
to  work  out  their  own  destiny. 

The  endeavor  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  by  pledging  the  govern- 
ment's indorsement  for  promoters  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  to 
make  the  United  States  a  partner  in  speculative  legislation  of  the 
archipelago,  which  was  only  temporarily  held  up  by  the  opposi- 
tion of  the  Democratic  Senators  in  the  last  session,  will,  if  sue- 

470 


AND   HOW   WE   MAKE   THEM 

cessful,  lead  to  entanglements  from  which  it  will  be  difficult  to 
escape. 

The  Democratic  party  has  been,  and  will  continue  to  be,  the 
consistent  opponent  of  that  class  of  tariff  legislation  by  which 
certain  interests  have  been  permitted,  through  Congressional  favor, 
to  draw  a  heavy  tribute  from  the  American  people. 

This  monstrous  perversion  of  those  equal  opportunities  which 
our  political  institutions  were  established  to  secure  has  caused 
what  may  once  have  been  infant  industries  to  become  the  greatest 
combinations  of  capital  that  the  world  has  ever  known. 

These  especial  favorites  of  the  government  have,  through  trust 
methods,  been  converted  into  monopolies,  thus  bringing  to  an  end 
domestic  competition,  which  was  the  only  alleged  check  upon  the 
extravagant  profits  made  possible  by  the  protective  system. 
These  industrial  combinations,  by  the  financial  assistance  they 
can  give,  now  control  the  policy  of  the  Republican  party. 

We  denounce  protection  as  a  robbery  of  the  many  to  enrich 
the  few,  and  we  favor  a  tariff  limited  to  the  needs  of  the  govern- 
ment, economically  administered,  and  so  levied  as  not  to  discrim- 
inate against  any  industry,  class,  or  section,  to  the  end  that  the 
burdens  of  taxation  shall  be  distributed  as  equally  as  possible. 

We  favor  a  revision  and  a  gradual  reduction  of  the  tariff  by  the 
friends  of  the  masses  and  for  the  common  weal,  and  not  by  the 
friends  of  its  abuses,  its  extortions,  and  its  discriminations,  keeping 
in  view  the  ultimate  ends  of  "equality  of  burdens  and  equality  of 
opportunities,"  and  the  constitutional  purpose  of  raising  a  revenue 
by  taxation — to  wit,  the  support  of  the  federal  government  in  all 
its  integrity  and  virility,  but  in  simplicity. 

We  recognize  that  the  gigantic  trusts  and  combinations  de- 
signed to  enable  capital  to  secure  more  than  its  just  share  of  the 
joint  products  of  capital  and  labor,  and  which  have  been  fostered 
and  promoted  under  Republican  rule,  are  a  menace  to  beneficial 
competition  and  an  obstacle  to  permanent  business  prosperity. 
A  private  monopoly  is  indefensible  and  intolerable. 

Individual  equality  of  opportunity  and  free  competition  are 
essential  to  a  healthy  and  permanent  commercial  prosperity,  and 
any  trust,  combination,  or  monopoly  tending  to  destroy  these  by 
controlling  production,  restricting  competition,  or  fixing  prices 
should  be  prohibited  and  punished  by  law.  We  especially  de- 
nounce rebates  and  discrimination  by  transportation  companies 
as  the  most  potent  agency  in  promoting  and  strengthening  these 
unlawful  conspiracies  against  trade. 

We  demand  an  enlargement  of  the  powers  of  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission,  to  the  end  that  the  travelling  public  and 
shippers  of  this  country  may  have  prompt  and  adequate  relief 
from  the  abuses  to  which  they  are  subjected  in  the  matter  of 
transportation.  We  demand  a  strict  enforcement  of  existing 
civil  and  criminal  statutes  against  all  such  trusts,  combinations, 
and  monopolies;  and  we  demand  the  enactment  of  such  further 
legislation  as  may  be  necessary  to  effectually  suppress  them. 

Any  trust  or  unlawful  combination  engaged  in  interstate  com- 
merce which  is  monopolizing  any  branch  of  business  or  production 
should  not  be  permitted  to  transact  business  outside  of  the  State 
of  its  origin.  Whenever  it  shall  be  established  in  any  court  of 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 


competent  jurisdiction  that  such  monopolization  exists,  such  pro- 
hibition should  be  enforced  through  comprehensive  laws  to  be 
enacted  on  the  subject. 

We  congratulate  our  Western  citizens  upon  the  passing  of  the 
law  known  as  the  Newlands  Irrigation  act  for  the  irrigation  and 
reclamation  of  the  arid  lands  of  the  West;  a  measure  framed  by  a 
Democrat,  passed  in  the  Senate  by  a  non-partisan  vote,  and  passed 
in  the  House  against  the  opposition  of  almost  all  the  Republican 
leaders  by  a  vote  the  majority  of  which  was  Democratic. 

We  call  attention  to  this  great  Democratic  measure,  broad  and 
comprehensive  as  it  is,  working  automatically  throughout  all 
time  without  further  action  of  Congress,  until  the  reclamation  is 
accomplished,  reserving  the  lands  reclaimed  for  home -seekers  in 
small  tracts,  and  rigidly  guarding  against  land  monopoly,  as  an 
evidence  of  the  policy  of  domestic  development  contemplated  by 
the  Democratic  party,  should  it  be  placed  in  power. 

The  Democracy,  when  intrusted  with  power,  will  construct  the 
Panama  Canal  speedily,  honestly,  and  economically,  thereby  giv- 
ing to  our  people  what  Democrats  have  always  contended  for — 
a  great  interoceanic  canal,  furnishing  shorter  and  cheaper  lines 
of  transportation  and  broader  and  less  trammelled  trade  relations 
with  the  other  peoples  of  the  world. 

We  pledge  ourselves  to  insist  upon  the  just  and  lawful  protection 
of  our  citizens  at  home  and  abroad,  and  to  use  all  proper  measures 
to  secure  for  them,  whether  native-born  or  naturalized,  and  without 
distinction  of  race  or  creed,  the  equal  protection  of  laws  and  the 
enjoyment  of  all  rights  and  privileges  open  to  them  under  the 
covenants  of  our  treaties  of  friendship  and  commerce,  and,  if, 
under  existing  treaties,  the  right  of  travel  and  sojourn  is  denied 
to  American  citizens  or  recognition  is  withheld  from  American 
passports  by  any  countries,  on  the  ground  of  race  or  creed,  we 
favor  the  beginning  of  negotiations  with  the  governments  of  such 
countries  to  secure  by  treaties  the  removal  of  these  unjust  dis- 
criminations. 

We  demand  that  all  over  the  world  a  duly  authenticated  pass- 
port, issued  by  the  government  of  the  United  States  to  an  American 
citizen,  shall  be  proof  of  the  fact  that  he  is  an  American  citizen  and 
shall  entitle  him  to  the  treatment  due  him  as  such. 

We  favor  the  election  of  United  States  Senators  by  the  direct 
vote  of  the  people. 

We  favor  the  admission  of  the  Territory  of  Oklahoma  and  the 
Indian  Territory.  We  also  favor  the  immediate  admission  of 
Arizona  and  New  Mexico  as  separate  States,  and  a  Territorial 
government  for  Alaska  and  Porto  Rico. 

We  hold  that  the  officials  appointed  to  administer  the  govern- 
ment of  any  Territory,  as  well  as  with  the  district  of  Alaska,  should 
be  bona  fide  residents  at  the  time  of  their  appointment  of  the  Terri- 
tory or  district  in  which  their  duties  are  to  be  performed. 

We  demand  the  extermination  of  polygamy  within  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  United  States,  and  the  complete  separation  of  church 
and  state  in  political  affairs. 

We  denounce  the  ship  subsidy  bill,  recently  passed  by  the 
United  States  Senate,  as  an  iniquitous  appropriation  of  public 
funds  for  private  purposes,  and  a  wasteful,  illogical,  and  useless 

472 


AND    HOW    WE    MAKE   THEM 


attempt  to  overcome  by  subsidy  the  obstnictions  raised  by  Re- 
publican legislation  to  the  growth  and  development  of  American 
commerce  on  the  sea. 

"VVe  favor  the  upbuilding  of  a  merchant  marine  without  new  or 
additional  burdens  upon  the  people  and  without  bounties  from 
the  public  treasury. 

We  favor  liberal  trade  arrangements  with  Canada,  and  with 
peoples  of  other  countries  where  they  can  be  entered  into  with 
benefit  to  American  agriculture,  manufactures,  mining,  or  commerce. 

We  favor  the  maintenance  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  in  its  full 
integrity. 

We  favor  the  reduction  of  the  army  and  of  army  expenditure 
to  the  point  historically  demonstrated  to  be  safe  and  sufficient. 

The  Democracy  would  secure  to  the  surviving  soldiers  and 
sailors  and  their  dependants  generous  pensions,  not  by  an  arbi- 
trary executive  order,  but  by  legislation,  which  a  grateful  people 
stand  ready  to  enact. 

Our  soldiers  and  sailors,  who  defend  with  their  lives  the  Consti- 
tution and  the  laws,  have  a  sacred  interest  in  their  just  adminis- 
tration. They  must,  therefore,  share  with  us  the  humiliation 
with  which  we  have  witnessed  the  exaltation  of  court  favorites, 
without  distinguished  service,  over  the  scarred  heroes  of  many 
battles,  or  aggrandized  by  executive  appropriations  out  of  the 
treasuries  of  a  prostrate  people  in  violation  of  the  act  of  Congress 
which  fixed  the  compensation  of  allowances  of  the  military  officers. 

The  Democratic  party  stands  committed  to  the  principles  of 
civil  service  reform,  and  we  demand  their  honest,  just,  and  im- 
partial enforcement. 

We  denounce  the  Republican  party  for  its  continuous  and 
sinister  encroachments  upon  the  spirit  and  operation  of  civil  ser- 
vice rules,  whereby  it  has  arbitrarily  dispensed  with  examinations 
for  office  in  the  interests  of  favorites,  and  employed  all  manner  of 
devices  to  overreach  and  set  aside  the  principles  upon  which  the 
civil  service  was  established. 

The  race  question  has  brought  countless  woes  to  this  country. 
The  calm  wisdom  of  the  American  people  should  see  to  it  that  it 
brings  no  more. 

To  revive  the  dead  and  hateful  race  and  sectional  animosities  in 
any  part  of  our  common  country  means  confusion,  distraction  of 
business,  and  the  reopening  of  wounds  now  happily  healed.  North, 
South,  East,  and  West  have  but  recently  stood  together  in  line 
of  battle  from  the  walls  of  Peking  to  the  hills  of  Santiago,  and  as 
sharers  of  a  common  glory  and  a  common  destiny  we  should  share 
fraternally  the  common  burdens. 

We  therefore  deprecate  and  condemn  the  Bourbon-like  selfish 
and  narrow  spirit  of  the  recent  Republican  convention  at  Chicago, 
which  sought  to  kindle  anew  the  embers  of  racial  and  sectional 
strife,  and  we  appeal  from  it  to  the  sober  common-sense  and  pa- 
triotic spirit  of  the  American  people. 

The  existing  Republican  administration  has  been  spasmodic, 
erratic,  sensational,  spectacular,  and  arbitrary.  It  has  made  itself 
a  satire  upon  the  Congress,  the  courts,  and  upon  the  settled  prac- 
tices and  usages  of  national  and  international  law. 

It  summoned  the  Congress  into  hasty  and  futile  extra  session 

473 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 


and  virtually  adjourned  it,  leaving  behind  its  flight  from  Washing- 
ton uncalled  calendars  and  unaccomplished  tasks.- 

It  made  war,  which  is  the  sole  power  of  Congress,  without  its 
authority,  thereby  usurping  one  of  its  fundamental  prerogatives. 
It  violated  a  plain  statute  of  the  United  States,  as  well  as  plain 
treaty  obligations,  international  usages,  and  constitutional  law, 
and  has  done  so  under  pretence  of  executing  a  great  public  policy, 
which  could  have  been  more  easily  effected  lawfully,  constitution- 
ally, and  with  honor. 

It  forced  strained  and  unnatural  constructions  upon  statutes, 
usurping  judicial  interpretation  and  substituting  Congressional 
enactment  decree. 

It  withdrew  from  Congress  their  customary  duties  of  investiga- 
tion, which  have  heretofore  made  the  representatives  of  the  people 
and  the  States  the  terror  of  evil-doers. 

It  conducted  a  secretive  investigation  of  its  own  and  boasted 
of  a  few  sample  convicts,  while  it  threw  a  broad  coverlet  over  the 
bureaus  which  have  been  their  chosen  field  of  operative  abuses, 
and  kept  in  power  the  superior  officers  under  whose  administra- 
tion the  crimes  had  been  committed. 

It  ordered  assault  upon  some  monopolies,  but  paralyzed  by  its 
first  victory,  it  flung  out  the  flag  of  truce  and  cried  out  that  it 
would  not  "run  amuck" — leaving  its  future  purposes  beclouded 
by  its  vacillations. 

Conducting  the  campaign  upon  this  declaration  of  our  principles 
and  purposes,  we  invoke  for  our  candidates  the  support,  not  only 
of  pur  great  and  time-honored  organization,  but  also  the  active 
assistance  of  all  our  fellow-citizens,  who,  disregarding  past  differ- 
ences upon  questions  no  longer  at  issue,  desire  the  perpetuation 
of  our  constitutional  government  as  framed  and  established  by 
the  fathers  of  the  republic. 

Several  minor  national  conventions  were  held  by  so- 
called  parties  which  have  little  following.  The  Socialist 
Labor  Party  met  in  New  York  with  very  few  States  rep- 
resented, and  nominated  C.  H.  Corrigan,  of  New  York, 
for  President,  and  William  W.  Cox  for  Vice-President. 
The  Continental  party,  an  off-shoot  of  the  labor  move- 
ment, held  a  small  conference  and  nominated  Austin 
Holcomb,  of  Georgia,  for  President,  and  A.  King,  of 
Missouri,  for  Vice-President.  The  National  Liberty  party, 
made  up  wholly  of  colored  men,  nominated  George  E. 
Taylor,  of  Iowa,  for  President,  and  William  C.  Payne,  of 
Virginia,  for  Vice-President,  and  another  negro  organiza- 
tion called  the  Lincoln  party,  nominated  E.  P.  Penn,  of 
West  Virginia,  for  President,  and  John  J.  Jones,  of  Illinois, 
for  Vice-President.  A  few  votes  were  cast  for  the  Socialist 
Labor  candidates,  but  the  others  did  not  seem  to  have 
any  electoral  tickets  in  any  of  the  States. 

When  the  campaign  opened  after  the  two  great  parties 

474 


AND    HOW   WE   MAKE   THEM 

had  presented  their  national  tickets  and  platforms,  Parker 
gave  promise  of  developing  considerable  strength  as  a 
candidate,  and  a  number  of  the  Republicans  were  not  in 
entire  sympathy  with  Roosevelt's  views  on  the  tariff  and 
trusts.  Instead  of  promptly  writing  brief  letters  of  ac- 
ceptance, as  was  common  for  Presidential  candidates  in 
the  early  days  of  both  the  great  parties,  Roosevelt  and 
Parker  alike  gave  two  elaborate  deliverances  in  formally 
accepting  their  nominations.  A  committee  of  the  con- 
ventions called  upon  them  to  formally  notify  them  that 
they  were  made  the  party  leaders  in  the  contest,  and  both 
gave  out  a  very  carefully  prepared  and  elaborate  presen- 
tation of  their  views  on  the  issues  of  the  day.  Later  they 
were  formally  addressed  by  the  president  of  the  conven- 
tion, and  answered  in  equally  elaborate  presentations  of 
their  views,  treating  every  new  question  up  to  date. 

The  campaign  was  unusually  quiet,  and  for  some  time 
the  leaders  of  both  sides  were  unable  to  make  safe  calcu- 
lations as  to  the  political  conditions,  but  the  undertow 
soon  set  in  favorable  to  Roosevelt,  and  by  the  time  the 
September  elections  came  around  in  Maine  and  Vermont, 
it  was  evident  to  all  that  an  irresistible  tidal-wave  was 
bringing  victory  to  Roosevelt.  Parker  resigned  his  po- 
sition as  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  and  de- 
livered a  number  of  political  addresses  none  of  which 
materially  aided  his  cause.  His  declaration  in  favor  of  giv- 
ing the  Philippines  back  to  the  control  of  the  natives 
aroused  aggressive  hostility  among  the  Catholic  voters  of 
the  country,  as  the  surrender  of  the  Philippine  Islands  to 
the  natives  would  be  simply  the  surrender  of  many  millions 
of  Catholic  property  to  spoliation  by  barbarians.  Another 
peculiar  feature  of  the  contest  was  the  fact  that  the  He- 
brew vote,  that  had  heretofore  been  largely  Democratic, 
very  generally  supported  Roosevelt.  After  the  Septem- 
ber elections  the  success  of  Roosevelt  was  universally 
conceded,  but  his  most  sanguine  friends  did  not  antici- 
pate such  an  overwhelming  victory.  He  received  much 
the  largest  popular  majority  ever  given  to  a  Presidential 
candidate,  although  his  majority  in  the  electoral  college 
was  not  so  large  as  the  electoral  majorities  given  to  Lincoln 
and  Grant  for  re-election.  The  following  table  presents 
the  various  votes  for  all  the  candidates,  the  plurality  of 
each  State,  and  the  vote  in  the  electoral  college: 

475 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 


POPULAR   AND    ELECTORAL   VOTE    FOR   PRESIDENT 

IN    1904 


STATES 

AND 

TERRITORIES 

POPULAR  VOTE. 

ELECTORAL 
VOTE. 

Parker, 
Dem. 

Roose- 
velt, 
Rep. 

Debs, 
Soc. 

Swal- 
low. 
Pro. 

Corri- 
gan, 
Soc.  L. 

Watson, 
Pop. 

Plurality. 

Jo 

11 
9 

"6 
13 

'is 

9 

"7 

'io 

'i2 

g 
'l2 

18 
*12 

ill 

Alabama  . 
Arkansas. 
California 
Colorado  . 
Connecticut 
Delaware. 
Florida...     . 

79,857 
64,434 
89,404 
100,105 
72,909 
19,360 
27,046 
88,331 
18,480 
327,606 
274,345 
149,141 
84,800 
217,170 
47,708 
27,630 
109,446 
165,746 
134,151 
55,187 
53,376 
296,312 
21,773 
51,876 
3,982 
33,992 
164,566 
683,981 
124,121 
14,273 
344,674 
17,521 
335,430 
24,839 
52,563 
21,969 
131,653 
167,200 
33,413 
9,77T 
80,648 
28,098 
100,850 
124,107 
8,904 

22,472 
46,860 
205,226 
134,687 
111,089 
23,714 
8,314 
25.335 
47,783 
632,645 
368,289 
307,907 
210,893 
205,277 
5,205 
64,437 
109,497 
257,822 
361,866 
216,651 
3,189 
321,449 
34,932 
138,558 
6,867 
54,177 
245,164 
859,533 
82,442 
52,595 
600,095 
60,455 
840,949 
41,605 
2,254 
72,083 
105.369 
51,242 
62,444 
40,459 
47,880 
101,540 
132,608 
280,164 
20,467 

853 
1,816 
29,535 
4,304 
4,543 
146 
2,337 
197 
4.949 
69,225 
12,013 
14,847 
15,494 
3,602 
995 
2,103 
2,247 
13,604 
8,941 
11,692 
393 
13,009 
5,676 
7,412 
925 
1,090 
9,587 
36,883 
124 
2,005 
36,260 
7,619 
21,863 
956 
22 
3,138 
1,354 
2,791 
5,767 
859 
218 
10,023 
1,572 
28,220 
1,077 

612 
983 
7,380 
3,438 
1,506 
607 

'845 
1,013 
34,770 
23,496 
11,601 
7,245 
6,609 

1,610 

3,034 
4,279 
13,308 
6,253 

7,i91 
335 
6,323 

'749 
6,845 
20,787 
361 
1,137 
19,339 
3,806 
33,717 
768 

2,965 
1,889 
4,292 

'792 
1,383 
3,229 
4,413 

9,770 
207 

839 

*335 
675 

4',  698 
1,698 

*696 

2,359 
1,012 
974 

1J674 
208 

2',680 
9,127 

2^633 

'488 

*421 

"56 
1,692 

'223 

5,051 
2,318 

"824 
494 
46 
1,605 
23,490 
353 
6,725 
2,444 
2,207 
6,156 
2,511 

"338 

i,*294 
1,159 
2,103 
1,425 
4,226 
1.520 
20,618 
344 
81 
3,705 
7,459 
819 
165 
1,392 
753 
2,211 

1 

1,840 
2,401 
8,062 

"359 
669 
3317 
630 

57,385  D 
17,574  D 
116,822  R 
34,582  R 
38,180  R 
4,364  R 
18,732  D 
62,996  D 
29,303  R 
305,039  R 
93,944  R 
158,766  R 
126,093  R 
11,893  D 
42,503  D 
36,807  R 
61  R 
92,076  R 
227,715  R 
161,464  R 
50,187  D 
25,137  R 
13,159  R 
86,682  R 
2,885  R 
20,185  R 
80,598  R 
176,652  R 
41,679  D 
38,322  R 
265,421  R 
42,874  R 
505,519  R 
16,766  R 
60,309  D 
50,114  R 
26,284  D 
115,958  D 
29,031  R 
30,682  R 
32,768  D 
73,442  R 
31,758  R 
156,057  R 
11,563  R 

'io 

5 
7 
3 

"3 
27 
15 
13 
10 

"e 
1 

16 
14 
11 

'is 

3 

8 
3 
4 
12 
39 

'*4 

23 
4 
34 

4 

"4 

"3 

4 

"• 

7 
13 
3 

Idaho         • 

Indiana  .  .   . 

Kentucky  
Louisiana  

Maryland  
Massachusetts. 

Minnesota  
Mississippi  
Missouri  
Montana  
Nebraska 

Nevada  

New  Hampsh'e 
New  Jersey  
New  York  
North  Carolina 
North  Dakota. 
Ohio  

Pennsylvania.. 
Rhode  Island. 
South  Carolina 
South  Dakota. 
Tennessee  
Texas  
Utah        

Vermont  

Washington  .  .  . 
West  Virginia. 
Wisconsin  
Wyoming  

Total  

5,082,754 

7,624,489 

402,286 

258,787 

32,088 

117,936 

•• 

140 

336 

*  In  Illinois  the  Continental  party  cast  830  votes. 

Popular  vote,  Roosevelt  over  Parker 2,541,635 

Popular  vote,  Roosevelt  over  all 1,729,809 

Electoral  vote,  Roosevelt  over  Parker 196 

Total  popular  vote,  all  candidates 13,519,169 

Total  popular  vote,  including  scattering  votes 13,528,979 

The  above  was  compiled  from  the  highest  vote  received  by  the  electors. 

476 


AND    HOW    WE    MAKE   THEM 

McKinley  received,  in  1900,  a  plurality  of  849,780  votes, 
which  was  the  largest  ever  given  to  a  President  in  any 
previous  contest.  Roosevelt  received  2,541,635  plurality, 
being  over  1,500,000  greater  than  McKinley's  plurality, 
and  yet  his  total  vote  is  only  a  little  over  400,000  more 
than  the  vote  received  by  McKinley,  while  the  aggregate 
popular  vote  was  nearly  400,000  less  than  it  was  in  1900. 
Parker's  vote  is  more  than  a  million  and  a  quarter  less 
than  the  vote  received  by  Bryan  in  his  last  contest  with 
McKinley.  This  decrease  clearly  shows  that  a  very  large 
percentage  of  the  Democratic  vote  was  not  polled,  and  it 
doubtless  can  be  explained  by  the  hostility  of  the  free 
silver  and  Populistic  elements  of  the  party  which  had 
followed  Bryan,  but  would  not  follow  Parker  on  a  sound- 
money  platform. 

The  Republicans  carried  all  of  the  debatable  States, 
giving  them  every  Northern  State,  and  they  made  a  sig- 
nificant inroad  against  the  solid  South  by  winning  Missouri 
for  Roosevelt  by  25,000  majority,  and  dividing  the  electoral 
vote  of  Maryland.  The  general  independence  of  the  voters 
was  indicated  by  several  startling  local  revolutions. 
Massachusetts  elected  a  Democratic  Governor  by  a  change 
of  over  100,000  in  the  Presidential  vote.  Minnesota  elect- 
ed a  Democratic  Governor  by  a  revolution  even  greater 
than  that  of  Massachusetts.  Missouri  elected  the  Demo- 
cratic candidate  for  Governor  by  40,000  while  Roosevelt 
carried  the  State  by  25,000.  Toole,  Democrat,  was  elected 
Governor  of  Montana  in  the  fact*  of  a  majority  of  nearly 
15,000  for  Roosevelt,  and  in  Colorado  the  Democratic 
candidate  for  Governor  was  elected  by  a  majority  that 
showed  a  change  of  50,000  between  the  Presidential  and 
Gubernatorial  votes.  Including  Governor  Peabody,  of 
Colorado,  who  was  at  war  with  the  labor  unions,  and  a 
candidate  for  re-election,  the  Republican  candidates  for 
Governor  in  States  where  the  Democrats  succeeded  were 
all  men  of  high  character  and  ability,  and  when  nominated 
were  regarded  as  certain  successful  candidates.  They  were 
defeated  by  local  issues,  showing  how  deep-seated  and 
earnest  are  the  independent  convictions  and  purposes  of 
the  American  voter. 


THE    TAFT-BRYAN    CONTEST 

1908 

THE  Presidential  contest  of  1908  opened  with  unusually 
confused  political  conditions.  The  socialistic  sentiment 
then  appeared  to  be  growing  rapidly,  chiefly  because  of 
the  general  prostration  of  industrial  interests,  and  the 
new  party  created  by  William  R.  Hearst,  with  a  strong 
tendency  toward  socialism,  was  expected  to  develop  very 
large  proportions.  This  condition  continued  until  well 
on  in  midsummer,  with  the  apparent  growth  of  the  social- 
istic sentiment,  but  the  last  few  months  of  the  campaign 
greatly  sobered  the  masses  of  the  people,  and  the  vote  of 
the  several  side  parties  with  socialistic  tendencies  fell  off 
to  one-half  of  what  was  generally  expected  at  the  opening 
of  the  contest. 

The  Populists  were  first  in  the  field  with  their  national 
convention,  and  met  at  St.  Louis  on  April  3d,  with  George 
A.  Honnecker  as  permanent  president.  The  convention 
was  made  very  turbulent  by  the  Nebraska  and  Minnesota 
delegations,  who  were  aggressively  for  the  nomination  of 
William  J.  Bryan,  and  who,  after  pressing  Bryan  upon 
the  convention  and  being  utterly  defeated,  retired  from 
the  body.  Thomas  E.  Watson,  of  Georgia,  was  nominated 
for  President,  and  Samuel  Williams,  of  Indiana,  for  Vice- 
President,  practically  without  a  contest.  The  following 
presents  all  the  vital  features  of  the  platform: 

The  Populist  platform  for  1908  demands  that  all  money  shall  be 
issued  by  the  Government  direct  to  the  people,  without  the  in- 
tervention of  banks,  and  be  a  full  legal  tender  for  all  debts,  public 
and  private,  and  in  quantities  to  supply  the  necessity  of  the  country. 

No  alien  ownership  of  the  public  domain,  forfeiture  of  land  by 
corporations  which  have  violated  grants. 

Government  ownership  and  control  of  railroads,  telegraph,  and 
telephone  lines,  and  other  monopolistic  public  utilities,  also  the 
establishment  of  a  parcels  post;  governmental  regulation,  under 

478 


Copyright,  1908,  by  the  Moffett  Studio,  Chicago 

WILLIAM    H.    TAFT 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

uniform  laws,  of  private  trusts  and  monopolies,  and  adequate  taxa- 
tion of  monopoly  privileges. 

Establishment  of  the  initiative,  referendum,  and  proportional 
representation  and  direct  vote  for  all  public  officers,  with  the  right 
of  recall. 

Preservation  of  the  right  of  labor  to  organize;  no  more  govern- 
ment by  injunction;  no  more  child  labor  or  sweatshop;  no  more 
convict  labor. 

The  enactment  of  an  employers'  liability  bill  and  the  institution 
of  a  general  eight-hour  day. 

Abolition  of  gambling  in  "futures"  in  the  stock  market. 

Exclusion  of  foreign  pauper  labor. 

Legislation  in  favor  of  safety  appliances  for  workingmen. 

Immediate  adoption  of  precautionary  measures  to  prevent  a 
repetition  of  recent  mining  disasters. 

Work  on  public  improvements  in  times  of  depression  for  unem- 
ployed men. 

The  passage  of  a  law  prohibiting  courts  from  assuming  jurisdic- 
tion involving  the  constitutionality  of  any  law  enacted  by  Con- 
gress and  approved  by  the  President. 

The  maintaining  of  farmers'  organizations  and  extensions  of 
their  power  and  influence. 

The  Socialist  party  was  next  in  the  field,  and  held  its 
convention  in  Chicago,  beginning  May  loth  and  continuing 
in  session  until  the  lyth.  It  had  full  representation,  as 
there  were  215  delegates  present  out  of  a  possible  218 
provided  for  in  the  proportion  under  the  official  party 
call.  The  sessions  of  the  convention  were  held  day  and 
evening,  and  devoted  chiefly  to  the  discussion  of  socialistic 
problems.  On  the  i4th  the  convention  reached  the 
nominations  for  President  and  Vice- President,  with  Stanley 
J.  Clark,  of  Texas,  as  permanent  chairman,  and  Eugene 
V.  Debs,  of  Indiana,  was  nominated  for  President  on 
first  ballot  by  the  following  vote:  Eugene  V.  Debs,  of 
Indiana,  159;  James  F.  Carey,  of  Massachusetts,  16;  Carl 
D.  Thompson,  of  Wisconsin,  14;  A.  M.  Simons,  of  Chicago, 
9.  The  nomination  of  Eugene  V.  Debs  was  made  unani- 
mous. A  ballot  for  Vice-President  resulted  as  follows: 
Ben  Hanford,  of  New  York,  106;  Seymour  Steadman,  of 
Illinois,  43;  Maywood  Simons,  of  Illinois,  20;  John  W. 
Slaton,  of  Pennsylvania,  15;  Caleb  Lipscomb,  of  Missouri, 
i;  George  W.  Woodby,  of  California,  i.  The  nomination 
of  Hanford  was  made  unanimous,  and  the  following  plat- 
form was  adopted : 

Human  life  depends  upon  food,  clothing,  and  shelter.  Only 
with  these  assured  are  freedom,  culture,  and  higher  human  de- 

"  479 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

velopment  possible.  To  produce  food,  clothing,  or  shelter,  land  and 
machinery  are  needed.  Land  alone  does  not  satisfy  human  needs. 
Human  labor  creates  machinery  and  applies  it  to  the  land  for  the 
production  of  raw  materials  and  food.  Whoever  has  control  of 
land  and  machinery  controls  human  labor,  and  with  it  human 
life  and  liberty. 

To-day  the  machinery  and  the  land  used  for  industrial  purposes 
are  owned  by  a  rapidly  decreasing  minority.  So  long  as  machinery 
is  simple  and  easily  handled  by  one  man,  its  owner  cannot  dominate 
the  sources  of  life"  of  others.  But  when  machinery  becomes  more 
complex  and  expensive,  and  requires  for  its  effective  operation  the 
organized  effort  of  many  workers,  its  influence  reaches  over  wide 
circles  of  life.  The  owners  of  such  machinery  become  the  dominant 
class. 

In  proportion  as  the  number  of  such  machine  owners  compared 
to  all  other  classes  decreases,  their  power  in  the  nation  and  in  the 
world  increases.  They  bring  ever  larger  masses  of  working  people 
under  their  control,  reducing  them  to  the  point  where  muscle  and 
brain  are  their  only  productive  property.  Millions  of  formerly 
self-employing  workers  thus  become  the  helpless  wage  slaves  of 
industrial  masters. 

As  the  economic  power  of  the  ruling  class  grows  it  becomes  less 
useful  in  the  life  of  the  nation.  All  the  useful  work  of  the  nation 
falls  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  class  whose  only  property  is  its 
manual  and  mental  labor  power — the  wage  worker — or  of  the  class 
who  have  but  little  land  and  little  effective  machinery  outside  of 
their  labor  power — the  small  traders  and  small  farmers.  The 
ruling  minority  is  steadily  becoming  useless  and  parasitic. 

A  bitter  struggle  over  the  division  of  the  products  of  labor  is 
waged  between  the  exploiting  propertied  classes  on  the  one  hand 
and  the  exploited  propertyless  class  on  the  other.  In  this  struggle 
the  wage  working  class  cannot  expect  adequate  relief  from  any 
reform  of  the  present  order  at  the  hands  of  the  dominant  class. 

The  wage  workers  are  therefore  the  most  determined  and  irrec- 
oncilable antagonists  of  the  ruling  class.  They  suffer  most  from 
the  curse  of  class  rule.  The  fact  that  a  few  capitalists  are  permitted 
to  control  all  the  country's  industrial  resources  and  social  tools 
for  their  individual  profit,  and  to  make  the  production  of  the 
necessaries  of  life  the  object  of  competitive  private  enterprise  and 
speculation  is  at  the  bottom  of  all  the  social  evils  of  our  time. 

In  spite  of  the  organization  of  trusts,  pools  and  combinations,  the 
capitalists  are  powerless  to  regulate  production  for  social  ends. 
Industries  are  largely  conducted  in  a  planless  manner.  Through 
periods  of  feverish  activity  the  strength  and  health  of  the  workers 
are  mercilessly  used  up,  and  during  periods  of  enforced  idleness  the 
workers  are  frequently  reduced  to  starvation. 

The  climaxes  of  this  system  of  production  are  the  regularly  re- 
curring industrial  depressions  and  crises  which  paralyze  the  nation 
every  fifteen  or  twenty  years. 

The  capitalist  class,  in  its  mad  race  for  profits,  is  bound  to 
exploit  the  workers  to  the  very  limit  of  their  endurance  and  to 
sacrifice  their  physical,  moral,  and  mental  welfare  to  its  own 
insatiable  greed.  Capitalism  keeps  the  masses  of  workingmen  in 
poverty,  destitution,  physical  exhaustion,  and  ignorance.  It  drags 

480 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

their  wives  from  their  homes  to  the  mill  and  factory.  It  snatches 
their  children  from  the  playgrounds  and  schools  and  grinds  their 
slender  bodies  and  unformed  minds  into  cold  dollars.  It  disfigures, 
maims,  and  kills  hundreds  of  thousands  of  workingmen  annually 
in  mines,  on  railroads,  and  in  factories.  It  drives  millions  of 
workers  into  the  ranks  of  the  unemployed,  and  forces  large  num- 
bers of  them  into  beggary,  vagrancy,  and  all  forms  of  crime  and 
vice. 

To  maintain  their  rule  over  their  fellow-men,  the  capitalists  must 
keep  in  their  pay  all  organs  of  the  public  powers,  public  mind,  and 
public  conscience.  They  control  the  dominant  parties,  and, 
through  them,  the  elected  public  officials.  They  select  the  execu- 
tives, bribe  the  legislatures,  and  corrupt  the  courts  of  justice. 
They  own  and  censor  the  press.  They  dominate  the  educational 
institutions.  They  own  the  nation  politically  and  intellectually 
just  as  they  own  it  industrially. 

The  struggle  between  wage  -  workers  and  capitalists  grows  ever 
fiercer,  and  has  now  become  the  only  vital  issue  before  the  American 
people.  The  wage-working  class,  therefore,  has  the  most  direct 
interest  in  abolishing  the  capitalist  system.  But  in  abolishing 
the  present  system,  the  workingmen  will  free  not  only  their  own 
class,  but  also  all  other  classes  of  modern  society:  The  small 
farmer,  who  is  to-day  exploited  by  large  capital  more  indirectly 
but  not  less  effectively  than  is  the  wage  laborer;  the  small  manu- 
facturer and  trader,  who  is  engaged  in  a  desperate  and  losing  struggle 
for  economic  independence  in  the  face  of  the  all-conquering  power 
of  concentrated  capital;  and  even  the  capitalist  himself,  who  is  the 
slave  of  his  wealth  rather  than  its  master.  The  struggle  of  the 
working  class  against  the  capitalist  class,  while  it  is  a  class  struggle, 
is  thus  at  the  same  time  a  struggle  for  the  abolition  of  all  classes 
fend  class  privileges. 

The  private  ownership  of  the  land  and  means  of  production 
used  for  exploitation  is  the  rock  upon  which  class  rule  is  built, 
political  government  is  its  indispensable  instrument.  The  wage- 
workers  cannot  be  freed  from  exploitation  without  conquering  the 
political  power  and  substituting  collective  for  private  ownership 
of  the  land  and  means  of  production  used  for  exploitation. 

The  basis  for  such  transformation  is  rapidly  developing  within 
present  capitalist  society.  The  factory  system,  with  its  complex 
machinery  and  minute  division  of  labor,  is  rapidly  destroying  all 
vestiges  of  individual  production  in  manufacture.  Modern  pro- 
duction is  already  very  largely  a  collective  and  social  process.  The 
great  trusts  and  monopolies  which  have  sprung  up  in  recent  years 
have  organized  the  work  and  management  of  the  principal  in- 
dustries on  a  national  scale,  and  have  fitted  them  for  collective  use 
and  operation. 

The  Socialist  party  is  primarily  an  economic  and  political  move- 
ment. It  is  not  concerned  with  matters  of  religious  belief. 

In  the  struggle  for  freedom  the  interests  of  all  modern  workers 
are  identical.  The  struggle  is  not  only  national  but  international. 
It  embraces  the  world,  and  will  be  carried  to  ultimate  victory  by 
the  united  workers  of  the  world. 

To  unite  the  workers  of  the  nation  and  their  allies  and  sym- 
pathizers of  all  other  classes  to  this  end  is  the  mission  of  the 

481 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

Socialist  party.  In  this  battle  for  freedom  the  Socialist  party 
does  not  strive  to  substitute  working  class  rule  for  capitalist  class 
rule,  but,  by  working  class  victory,  to  free  all  humanity  from  class 
rule  and  to  realize  the  international  brotherhood  of  man. 

The  Socialist  party,  in  national  convention  assembled,  again 
declares  itself  as  the  party  of  the  working  class,  and  appeals  for  the 
support  of  all  workers  of  the  United  States  and  of  all  citizens  who 
sympathize  with  the  great  and  just  cause  of  labor. 

We  are  at  this  moment  in  the  midst  of  one  of  those  industrial 
breakdowns  that  periodically  paralyze  the  life  of  the  nation.  The 
much  boasted  era  of  our  national  prosperity  has  been  followed 
by  one  of  general  misery.  Factories,  mills,  and  mines  are  closed. 
Millions  of  men,  ready,  willing,  and  able  to  provide  the  nation 
with  all  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life,  are  forced  into  idleness 
and  starvation. 

Within  recent  times  the  trusts  and  monopolies  have  attained  an 
enormous  and  menacing  development.  They  have  acquired  the 
power  to  dictate  the  terms  upon  which  we  shall  be  allowed  to  live. 
The  trusts  fix  the  prices  of  our  bread,  meat,  and  sugar,  of  our  coal, 
oil,  and  clothing,  of  our  raw  material  and  machinery,  of  all  the 
necessities  of  life. 

The  present  desperate  condition  of  the  workers  has  been  made 
the  opportunity  for  a  renewed  onslaught  on  organized  labor.  The 
highest  courts  of  the  country  have  within  the  last  year  rendered 
decision  after  decision  depriving  the  workers  of  rights  which  they 
had  won  by  generations  of  struggle. 

The  attempt  to  destroy  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners,  al- 
though defeated  by  the  solidarity  of  organized  labor  and  the 
Socialist  movement,  revealed  the  existence  of  a  far-reaching  and 
unscrupulous  conspiracy  by  the  ruling  class  against  the  organizations 
of  labor. 

In  their  efforts  to  take  the  lives  of  the  leaders  of  the  miners  the 
conspirators  violated  State  laws  and  the  Federal  Constitution  in  a 
manner  seldom  equalled  even  in  a  country  so  completely  dominated 
by  the  profit-seeking  class  as  is  the  United  States. 

The  Congress  of  the  United  States  has  shown  its  contempt  for 
the  interests  of  labor  as  plainly  and  unmistakably  as  have  the 
other  branches  of  government.  The  laws  for  which  the  labor 
organizations  have  continually  petitioned  have  failed  to  pass. 
Laws  ostensibly  enacted  for  the  benefit  of  labor  have  been  dis- 
torted against  labor. 

The  working  class  of  the  United  States  cannot  expect  any 
remedy  for  its  wrongs  from  the  present  ruling  class  or  from  the 
dominant  parties.  So  long  as  a  small  number  of  individuals  are 
permitted  to  control  the  sources  of  the  nation's  wealth  for  their 
private  profit  in  competition  with  each  other  and  for  the  exploita- 
tion of  their  fellow-men,  industrial  depressions  are  bound  to  occur  at 
certain  intervals.  No  currency  reforms  or  other  legislative  meas- 
ures proposed  by  capitalist  reformers  can  avail  against  these  fatal 
results  of  utter  anarchy  in  production. 

Individual  competition  leads  inevitably  to  combinations  and 
trusts.  No  amount  of  government  regulation,  or  of  publicity,  or 
of  restrictive  legislation,  will  arrest  the  natural  course  of  modern 
industrial  development. 

482 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

While  our  courts,  legislatures,  and  executive  offices  remain  in  the 
hands  of  the  ruling  classes  and  their  agents,  the  Government  will 
be  used  in  the  interests  of  these  classes  as  against  the  toilers. 

Political  parties  are  but  the  expression  of  economic  class  in- 
terests. The  Republican,  the  Democratic,  and  the  so-called 
"Independence"  parties,  and  all  parties  other  than  the  Socialist 
party,  are  financed,  directed,  and  controlled  by  the  representatives 
of  different  groups  of  the  ruling  class. 

In  the  maintenance  of  class  government,  both  the  Democratic 
and  Republican  parties  have  been  equally  guilty.  The  Republican 
party  has  had  control  of  the  national  Government,  and  has  been 
directly  and  actively  responsible  for  these  wrongs.  The  Democratic 
party,  while  saved  from  direct  responsibility  by  its  political  im- 
potence, has  shown  itself  equally  subservient  to  the  aims  of  the 
capitalist  class  whenever  ana  wherever  it  has  been  in  power.  The 
old  chattel  slave-owning  aristocracy  of  the  South,  which  was  the 
backbone  of  the  Democratic  party,  has  been  supplanted  by  a 
child  slave  plutocracy.  In  the  great  cities  of  our  country  the 
Democratic  party  is  allied  with  the  criminal  element  of  the 
slums  as  the  Republican  party  is  allied  with  the  predatory  crim- 
inals of  the  palace  in  maintaining  the  interests  of  the  possessing 
class. 

The  various  "reform"  movements,  and  parties  which  have  sprung 
up  within  recent  years  are  but  the  clumsy  expression  of  widespread 
popular  discontent.  They  are  not  based  on  an  intelligent  under- 
standing of  the  historical  development  of  civilization  and  of  the 
economic  and  political  needs  of  our  time.  They  are  bound  to 
perish  as  the  numerous  middle  class  reform  movements  of  the  past 
have  perished. 

The  Socialistic  Labor  party  held  its  fifth  Presidential 
convention  in  New  York  City  on  July  ^d,  and  it  required 
eight  sessions  of  the  body  to  finish  its  labors.  F.  E. 
Passanno,  of  New  York,  was  made . permanent  president. 
Martin  R.  Preston,  of  Nevada,*  was  unanimously  nominat- 
ed for  President.  Donald  L.  Munro,  of  Virginia,  was 
nominated  for  Vice-President  on  the  first  ballot,  receiving 
all  but  eight  votes,  which  were  cast  for  A.  S.  Dowler,  and 
the  nomination  was  at  once  made  unanimous.  One  of 
the  notable  features  of  the  action  of  this  convention  was 
the  nomination  of  a  penitentiary  convict  for  the  Presidency. 
Mr.  Preston,  who  was  the  nominee,  was  then  in  the  Nevada 
penitentiary  to  serve  a  sentence  of  twenty-five  years.  He  was 
a  prominent  man  in  the  labor  organization  of  Nevada,  and 
during  a  strike  had  an  altercation,  resulting  in  his  killing  a 
man,  for  which  he  was  convicted  of  murder  in  the  second 
degree.  The  convention  had  representatives  from  only 
twelve  States,  and  the  following  is  the  platform  adopted: 

*  August  Gillhaus,  of  New  York,  was  substituted  as  "  candidate 
by  proxy." 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

The  Socialist  Labor  party  of  America,  in  convention  assembled, 
reasserts  the  inalienable  right  of  man  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness. 

We  hold  that  the  purpose  of  government  is  to  secure  to  every 
citizen  the  enjoyment  of  this  right;  but,  taught  by  experience,  we 
hold,  furthermore,  that  such  right  is  illusory  to  the  majority  of  the 
people— -to  wit,  the  working  class — under  the  present  system  of 
economic  inequality  that  is  essentially  destructive  of  their  life, 
their  liberty,  and  their  happiness. 

We  hold  that  the  true  theory  of  politics  is  that  the  machinery 
of  government  must  be  controlled  by  the  whole  people;  but,  again 
taught  by  experience,  we  hold,  furthermore,  that  the  true  theory 
of  economics  is  that  the  means  of  production  must  likewise  be 
owned,  operated,  and  controlled  by  the  people  in  common.  Man 
cannot  exercise  his  right  of  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness 
without  the  ownership  of  the  land  on  and  the  tool  with  which  to 
work.  Deprived  of  these,  his  life,  his  liberty,  and  his  fate  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  class  that  owns  those  essentials  for  work  and 
production. 

We  hold  that  the  existing  contradiction  between  the  theory  of 
democratic  government  and  the  fact  of  a  despotic  economic  system 
— the  private  ownership  of  the  natural  and  social  opportunities — 
divides  the  people  into  two  classes:  the  capitalist  class  and  the 
working  class;  throws  society  into  the  convulsions  of  the  class 
struggle;  and  perverts  government  to  the  exclusive  benefit  of  the 
capitalist  class. 

Thus  labor  is  robbed  of  the  wealth  which  it  alone  produces,  is 
denied  the  means  of  self -employment,  and,  by  compulsory  idle- 
ness in  wage  slavery,  is  even  deprived  of  the  necessaries  of  life. 

Against  such  a  system  the  Socialist  Labor  party  raises  the  banner 
of  revolt,  and  demands  the  unconditional  surrender  of  the  capitalist 
class. 

The  time  is  fast  coming  when  in  the  natural  course  of  social  evolu- 
tion, this  system,  through  the  destructive  action  of  its  failures 
and  crises  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  constructive  tendencies  of  its 
trusts  and  other  capitalist  combinations  on  the  other  hand,  will 
have  worked  out  its  own  downfall. 

We,  therefore,  call  upon  the  wage-workers  of  America  to  organize 
under  the  banner  of  the  Socialist  Labor  party  into  a  class  conscious 
body,  aware  of  its  rights  and  determined  to  conquer  them. 

And  we  also  call  upon  all  other  intelligent  citizens  to  place  them- 
selves squarely  upon  the  ground  of  working-class  interests,  and 
join  us  in  this  mighty  and  noble  work  of  human  emancipation,  so 
that  we  may  put  summary  end  to  the  existing  barbarous  class 
conflict  by  placing  the  land  and  all  the  means  of  production,  trans- 
portation, and  distribution  into  the  hands  of  the  people  as  a  collective 
body,  and  substituting  the  co  -  operative  commonwealth  for  the 
present  state  of  planless  production,  industrial  war  and  social  dis- 
order— a  commonwealth  in  which  every  worker  shall  have  the  free 
exercise  and  full  benefit  of  his  faculties,  multiplied  by  all  the 
modern  factors  of  civilization. 

The  Prohibition  National  Convention  met  at  Columbus, 
Ohio,  on  July  i6th,  and  finished  its  labors  in  a  day  by  the 

484 


AND   HOW  WE   MAKE   THEM 

nomination  of  Eugene  W.  Chafin,  of  Illinois,  for  President, 
and  Aaron  S.  Watkins,  of  Ohio,  for  Vice-President.  It 
was  a  quiet  and  orderly  body,  but  Chafin  was  not  nominat- 
ed until  the  third  ballot. 


First  Ballot 


Palmore 273 

Chafin 193 

Sheen 184 

Manierre 1 59 

Tracy 105 


Wheeler 72 

O.  H.  Stewart 61 

Cranfill 28 

G.  R.  Stewart 7 

Scanlon.  . 


Second  Ballot 

Palmore 418        II       Tracy 81 

Chafin 226  O.  H.  Stewart 47 

Sheen 1 57  Wheeler 37 

Manierre 121        || 

Third  Ballot 

Chafin 636  II        Tracy 7 

Palmore 415  Mamerre 4 

Sheen 14 

William  B.  Palmore  was  unanimously  nominated  for 
Vice-President;  but  he  was  present,  and  peremptorily 
declined.  Aaron  S.  Watkins,  of  Ohio,  was  then  nominated 
for  Vice-President  on  the  first  ballot  by  the  following  vote : 
Holler,  41;  Demaree,  126;  Watkins,  585.  The  following 
platform  was  adopted: 

The  Prohibition  party  of  the  United  States,  assembled  in  con- 
vention at  Columbus,  Ohio,  July  15-16,  1908,  expressing  gratitude  to 
Almighty  God  for  the  victories  of  our  principles  in  the  past,  for 
encouragement  at  present,  and  for  confidence  of  early  and  trium- 
phant success  in  the  future,  makes  the  following  declaration  of 
principles,  and  pledges  their  enactment  into  law  when  placed  in  power : 

1 .  The  submission  by  Congress  to  the  several  States  of  an  amend- 
ment  to  the   Federal   Constitution  prohibiting   the   manufacture, 
sale,  importation,  exportation,  or  transportation  of  alcoholic  liquors 
for  beverage  purposes. 

2.  The  immediate  prohibition  of  the  liquor  traffic  for  beverage 
purposes  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  in  the  Territories,  and  all 
places  over  which  the  national  Government  has  jurisdiction,  the 
repeal  of  the  internal  revenue  tax  on  alcoholic  liquors,  and  the 
prohibition  of  the  interstate  traffic  therein. 

3.  The  election  of  United  States  Senators  by  direct  vote  of  the 
people. 

4.  Equitable  graduated  income  and  inheritance  taxes. 

5.  The  establishment  of  postal  savings  banks  and  the  guaranty 
of  deposits  in  banks. 

485 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

6.  The  regulation  of  all  corporations  doing  an  interstate  com- 
merce business. 

7.  The  creation  of  a  permanent  tariff  commission, 

8.  The  strict  enforcement  of  law  instead  of  the  official  tolerance 
and  practical  license  of  the  social  evil  which  prevails  in  many  of 
our  cities,  and  its  unspeakable  traffic  in  girls. 

9.  Uniform  marriage  and  divorce  laws. 

10.  An  equitable  and  constitutional  employers'  liability  act. 
IT.  Court  review  of  Post  Office  Department  decisions. 

12.  The   prohibition   of   child   labor   in   mines,  workshops,  and 
factories. 

13.  Legislation    basing    suffrage    only    upon    intelligence,   and 
ability  to  read  and  write  the  English  language. 

14.  The  preservation  of  the  mineral  and  forest  resources  of  the 
country,  and  the  improvement  of  the  highways  and  waterways. 

Believing  in  the  righteousness  of  our  cause  and  in  the  final 
triumph  of  our  principles,  and  convinced  of  the  unwillingness  of 
the  Republican  and  Democratic  parties  to  deal  with  these  issues, 
we  invite  to  full  party  fellowship  all  citizens  who  are  with  us  agreed. 

The  Independence  party,  that  was  expected  to  become 
a  very  formidable  factor  in  the  national  contest,  held  its 
first  national  convention  in  Chicago,  on  July  27th,  with  a 
full  representation  of  delegates.  It  was  the  party  created 
by  William  R.  Hearst,  and  at  the  time  and  meeting  of  its 
convention  its  intelligent  leaders  expected  that  it  would 
command  a  million  votes  in  the  contest.  William  R. 
Hearst,  the  man  who  was  the  acknowledged  leader  of  the 
party,  was  made  permanent  president.  Hearst  would 
have  been  made  the  candidate  for  President  had  he  not 
peremptorily  declined.  A  number  of  names  were  pre- 
sented for  the  Presidential  nomination,  and  on  the  first  bal- 
lot Thomas  L.  Hisgen,  of  Massachusetts,  received  a  majority 
of  the  votes,  but  was  unanimously  nominated  after  the 
third  ballot.  The  vote  for  President  was  as  follows: 

First  Ballot 

Hisgen 396      II      Lyon 71 

Graves 215  Hearst    45 


Second  Ballot 


Hisgen :. 590 

Graves 160 

Howard I09\ 

Third  Ballot 

Hisgen 83 1      II      Hearst 

Graves 77  Lyon  . 

Howard 56      || 

486 


Hearst    45 

Lyon 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

Hisgen  was  then  declared  nominated  unanimously. 
The  nominations  for  Vice-President  were  Stephen  Charters, 
Howard  S.  Taylor,  Charles  F.  S.  Neil,  and  John  Temple 
Graves,  but  before  the  ballot  the  nominations  of  Taylor, 
Neil,  and  Charters  were  withdrawn,  and  Graves,  of  Georgia, 
was  nominated  by  unanimous  vote.  The  following  is  the 
platform  adopted  by  the  Independence  party: 

We,  independent  American  citizens,  representing  the  Indepen- 
dence party  in  forty-four  States  and  two  Territories,  have  met 
in  national  convention  to  nominate,  absolutely  independent  of  all 
other  political  parties,  candidates  for  President  and  Vice- President 
of  the  United  States. 

Our  action  is  based  upon  a  determination  to  wrest  the  conduct 
of  public  affairs  from  the  hands  of  selfish  interests,  political  trick- 
sters, and  corrupt  bosses,  and  make  the  Government,  as  the  founders 
intended,  an  agency  for  the  common  good. 

At  a  period  of  unexampled  national  prosperity  and  promise  a 
staggering  blow  was  dealt  to  legitimate  business  by  the  unmolested 
practice  of  stock  watering  and  dishonest  financiering.  Multitudes 
of  defenseless  investors,  thousands  of  honest  business  men,  and  an 
army  of  idle  workingmen  are  paying  the  penalty.  Year  by  year, 
fostered  by  wasteful  and  reckless  governmental  extravagance,  by 
the  manipulation  of  trusts,  and  by  a  privilege-creating  tariff,  the 
cost  of  living  mounts  higher  and  higher.  Day  by  day  the  control 
of  the  Government  drifts  further  away  from  the  people  and  more 
firmly  into  the  grip  of  machine  politicians  and  party  bosses. 

The  Republican  and  Democratic  parties  are  not  only  responsible 
for  these  conditions,  but  are  committed  to  their  indefinite  con- 
tinuance. Prodigal  of  promises,  they  are  so  barren  of  performance 
that  to  a  new  party  of  independent  voters  the  country  must  look 
for  the  establishment  of  a  new  policy  and  a  return  to  genuine 
popular  government. 

Our  object  is  not  to  introduce  violent  innovations  or  startlingly 
new  theories.  We,  the  Independence  party,  look  back,  as  Lincoln 
did,  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence  as  the  fountainhead  of  all 
political  inspiration.  It  is  not  our  purpose  to  attempt  to  revolu- 
tionize the  American  system  of  government,  but  to  restore  the 
action  of  the  Government  to  the  principles  of  Washington  and 
Jefferson  and  Lincoln.  It  is  not  our  purpose  either  to  effect  a 
radical  change  in  the  American  system  of  government,  but  to  con- 
serve for  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  tneir  privileges  and  liber- 
ties won  for  them  by  the  founders  of  this  Government,  and  to 
perpetuate  the  principles  and  policies  upon  which  the  nation's 
greatness  has  been  built. 

The  Independence  party  is,  therefore,  a  conservative  force  in 
American  politics,  devoted  to  the  preservation  of  American  liberty 
and  independence,  to  honesty  in  elections,  to  opportunity  in 
business  and  to  equality  before  the  law.  Those  who  believe  in  the 
Independence  party  and  work  with  it  are  convinced  that  a  genuine 
democracy  should  exist,  that  a  true  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment should  continue,  that  the  power  of  government  should  rest 

487 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

with  the  majority  of  the  people,  and  that  the  government  should  be 
conducted  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  citizenship  rather  than  for 
the  special  advantage  of  any  particular  class. 

As  of  first  importance,  in  order  to  restore  the  power  of  govern- 
ment to  the  people,  to  make  their  will  supreme  in  the  primaries, 
in  the  elections,  and  in  the  control  of  public  officials  after  they  have 
been  elected,  we  declare  for  direct  nominations,  the  initiative  and 
referendum  and  the  right  of  recall. 

It  is  idle  to  cry  out  against  the  evil  of  bossism  while  we  per- 
petuate a  system  under  which  the  boss  is  inevitable.  The  destruc- 
tion of  an  individual  boss  is  of  little  value  The  people  in  their 
politics  must  establish  a  system  which  will  eliminate  not  only  an 
objectionable  boss,  but  the  system  of  bossism.  Representative 
government  is  made  a1  mockery  by  the  system  of  modern  party 
conventions  dominated  by  bosses  and  controlled  by  cliques.  We 
demand  the  natural  remedy  of  direct  nominations,  by  which  the 
people  not  only  elect,  but,  which  is  far  more  important,  select  their 
represenatives. 

We  believe  in  the  principle  of  the  initiative  and  referendum, 
and  we  particularly  demand  that  no  franchise  grant  go  into  opera- 
tion until  the  terms  and  conditions  have  been  approved  by  popular 
vote  in  the  locality  interested. 

We  demand  for  the  people  the  right  to  recall  public  officials  from 
the  public  service.  The  power  to  make  officials  resides  in  the 
people,  and  in  them  also  should  reside  the  power  to  unmake  and 
remove  from  office  any  official  who  demonstrates  his  unfitness  or 
betrays  the  public  trust. 

Of  next  importance  in  destroying  the  power  of  selfish  special 
interests  and  the  corrupt  political  bosses  whom  they  control  is  to 
wrest  from  their  hands  their  main  weapon,  the  corruption  fund. 
We  demand  severe  and  effective  legislation  against  all  forms  of 
corrupt  practices  at  elections,  and  advocate  prohibiting  the  use  of 
any  money  at  elections  except  for  meetings,  literature,  and  the 
necessary  travelling  expenses  of  candidates.  Bidding  for  votes, 
the  Republican  and  Democratic  candidates  are  making  an  outcry 
about  publicity  of  contributions,  although  both  the  Republican 
and  Democratic  parties  have  for  years  consistently  blocked  every 
effort  to  pass  a  corrupt  practices  act.  Publicity  of  contributions 
is  desirable  and  should  be  required,  but  the  main  matter  of  im- 
portance is  the  use  to  which  contributions  are  put.  We  believe 
that  the  dishonest  use  of  money  in  the  past,  whether  contributed 
by  individuals  or  by  corporations,-  has  been  chiefly  responsible  for 
the  corruption  which  has  undermined  our  system  of  popular 
government. 

We  demand  honest  conduct  of  public  office  and  businesslike 
and  economical  administration  of  public  affairs,  and  we  condemn  the 
gross  extravagance  of  Federal  administration  and  its  appalling  annual 
increase  in  appropriations.  Unnecessary  appropriations  mean  un- 
necessary taxes,  and  unnecessary  taxes,  whether  direct  or  indirect, 
are  paid  by  the  people  and  add  to  the  ever-increasing  cost  of  living. 

We  condemn  the  evil  of  overcapitalization.  Modern  industrial 
conditions  make  the  corporation  and  stock  company  a  necessity, 
but  overcapitalization  in  corporations  is  as  harmful  and  criminal  as 
is  personal  dishonesty  in  an  individual.  Compelling  the  payment 

488 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

of  dividends  upon  great  sums  that  have  never  been  invested, 
upon  masses  of  watered  stock  not  justified  by  the  property,  over- 
capitalization prevents  the  better  wages,  the  better  public  service, 
and  the  lower  cost  that  should  result  from  American  inventive 
genius  and  that  wide  organization  which  is  replacing  costly  in- 
dividual competition.  The  collapse  of  dishonestly  inflated  enter- 
prises robs  investors,  closes  banks,  destroys  confidence,  and  en- 
genders panics.  The  Independence  party  advocates  as  a  primary 
necessity  for  sounder  business  conditions  and  improved  public 
service  the  enactment  of  laws,  State  and  national,  to  prevent  water- 
ing of  stock,  dishonest  issues  of  bonds,  and  other  forms  of  cor- 
poration frauds. 

We  denounce  the  so-called  labor  planks  of  the  Republican  and 
Democratic  platforms  as  political  buncombe  and  contemptible 
claptrap  unworthy  of  national  parties  claiming  to  be  serious  and 
sincere. 

The  Republican  declaration  that  "no  injunction  or  temporary 
restraining  order  should  be  issued  without  notice,  except  where 
irreparable  injury  would  result  from  delay,"  is  empty  verbiage,  for 
a  showing  of  irreparable  injury  can  always  be  made,  and  is  always 
made,  in  ex,  parte  affidavits. 

The  Democratic  declaration  that  "  injunctions  should  not  be  issued 
in  any  case  in  which  injunctions  should  not  issue  if  no  industrial 
dispute  were  involved,"  is  meaningless  and  worthless. 

Such  insincere  and  meaningless  declarations  place  a  low  estimate 
upon  the  intelligence  of  the  average  American  workingman,  and 
exhibit  either  ignorance  of  or  indifference  to  the  real  interests  of 
labor. 

The  Independence  party  condemns  the  arbitrary  use  of  the  writ 
of  injunction  and  contempt  proceedings  as  a  violation  of  the  funda- 
mental American  right  of  trial  by  jury. 

From  the  foundation  of  our  Government  down  to  1872  the  Federal 
judiciary  act  prohibited  the  issue  of  any  injunction  without  reason- 
able notice  until  after  a  hearing.  We  assert  that  in  all  actions 
growing  out  of  a  dispute  between  employers  and  employe's  con- 
cerning terms  or  conditions  of  employment,  no  injunction  should 
issue  until  after  a  trial  upon  the  merits,  that  such  trial  should  be 
had  before  a  jury,  and  that  in  no  case  of  alleged  contempt  should 
any  person  be  deprived  of  liberty  without  a  trial  by  jury. 

The  Independence  party  believes  that  the  distribution  of  wealth 
is  as  important  as  the  creation  of  wealth,  and  indorses  those  or- 
ganizations among  farmers  and  workers  which  tend  to  bring  about 
a  just  distribution  of  wealth  through  good  wages  for  workers  and 
good  prices  for  farmers,  and  which  protect  the  employer  and  the 
consumer  through  equality  of  price  for  labor  and  for  product,  and 
we  favor  such  legislation  as  will  remove  them  from  the  operation 
of  the  Sherman  anti -trust  law. 

We  indorse  the  eight-hour  workday,  favor  its  application  to  all 
Government  employes,  and  demand  the  enactment  of  laws  requiring 
that  all  work  done  for  the  Government,  whether  Federal  or  State, 
and  whether  done  directly  or  indirectly  through  contractors  or 
subcontractors,  shall  be  done  on  an  eight-hour  basis. 

We  favor  the  enactment  of  a  law  condemning  as  illegal  any  com- 
bination or  conspiracy  to  blacklist  employe's. 

489 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

We  demand  protection  for  workmen  through  enforced  use  of 
standard  safety  appliances  and  provision  of  hygienic  conditions  in 
the  operation  of  factories,  railways,  mills,  mines,  and  all  industrial 
undertakings. 

We  advocate  State  and  Federal  inspection  of  railways  to  secure 
a  greater  safety  for  railway  employes  and  for  the  travelling  public. 

We  call  for  the  enactment  of  stringent  laws  fixing  employers' 
liabilities,  and  a  rigid  prohibition  of  child  labor  through  co-opera- 
tion between  the  State  governments  and  the  National  Government. 

We  condemn  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  prison-made  goods  in 
the  open  market  in  competition  with  free  labor-manufactured  goods. 
We  demand  that  convicts  shall  be  employed  direct  by  the  different 
States  in  the  manufacture  of  products  for  use  in  State  institutions 
and  in  making  good  roads,  and  in  no  case  shall  convicts  be  hired 
out  to  contractors  or  subcontractors. 

We  favor  the  creation  of  a  department  of  labor,  including  mines 
and  mining,  the  head  of  which  shall  be  a  member  of  the  President's 
Cabinet. 

The  great  abuses  of  grain  inspection  by  which  the  producers  are 
plundered  demand  immediate  and  vigorous  correction.  To  that 
end  we  favor  Federal  inspection  under  a  strict  civil  service  law. 

The  Independence  party  declares  that  the  right  to  issue  money 
is  inherent  in  the  Government,  and  it  favors  the  establishment  of  a 
central  governmental  bank  through  which  the  money  so  issued  shall 
be  put  into  general  circulation. 

We  demand  a  revision  of  the  tariff,  not  by  the  friends  of  the  tariff, 
but  by  the  friends  of  the  people,  and  declare  for  a  gradual  reduction 
of  tariff  duties  with  just  consideration  for  the  rights  of  the  con- 
suming public  and  of  established  industry.  There  should  be  no 
protection  for  oppressive  trusts  which  sell  cheaply  abroad  and  take 
advantage  of  the  tariff  at  home  to  crush  competition,  raise  prices, 
control  production,  and  limit  work  and  wages. 

The  railroads  must  be  kept  open  to  all  upon  exactly  equal  terms. 
Every  form  of  rebate  and  discrimination  in  railroad  rates  is  a 
crime  against  business  and  must  be  stamped  out.  We  demand  ade- 
quate railroad  facilities,  and  advocate  a  bill  empowering  shippers  in 
time  of  need  to  compel  railroads  to  provide  sufficient  cars  for 
freight  and  passenger  traffic  and  other  railroad  facilities  through 
summary  appeal  to  the  courts.  We  favor  the  creation  of  an  Inter- 
state Commerce  Court,  whose  sole  function  it  shall  be  to  review 
speedily  and  enforce  summarily  the  orders  of  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission.  The  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  should 
have  the  power  to  initiate  investigation  into  the  reasonableness 
of  rates  and  practices,  and  no  increase  in  rates  should  be  put  into 
effect  until  opportunity  for  such  investigation  is  afforded.  The 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission  should  proceed  at  once  with  a 
physical  valuation  of  railroads  engaged  in  interstate  commerce. 

We  believe  that  legitimate  organizations  in  business  designed  to 
secure  an  economy  of  operation  and  increased  production  are 
beneficial  wherever  the  public  participates  in  the  advantages  which 
result. 

We  denounce  all  combinations  for  restraint  of  trade  and  for  the 
establishment  of  monopoly  in  all  products  of  labor,  and  declare  that 
such  combinations  are  not  combinations  for  production,  but  for  ex- 

490 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

tortion,  and  that  activity  in  this  direction  is  not  industry  but 
robbery. 

In  cases  of  infractions  of  the  anti-trust  law  or  of  the  interstate 
commerce  act,  we  believe  in  the  enforcement  of  a  prison  penalty 
against  the  guilty  and  responsible  individuals  controlling,  the 
management  of  the  offending  corporations,  rather  than  a  fine  im- 
posed upon  stockholders. 

We  advocate  the  extension  of  the  principle  of  public  ownership 
of  public  utilities,  including  railroads,  as  rapidly  as  municipal, 
State  or  National  Government  shall  demonstrate  ability  to  conduct 
public  utilities  for  the  public  benefit.  We  favor  specifically  Gov- 
ernment ownership  of  the  telegraph,  such  as  prevails  in  every  other 
civilized  country  in  the  world,  and  demand  as  an  immediate  meas- 
ure that  the  Government  shall  purchase  and  operate  the  telegraphs 
in  connection  with  the  postal  service. 

The  parcels  post  system  should  be  rapidly  and  widely  extended, 
and  Government  postal  savings  banks  should  be  established  where 
the  people's  deposits  will  be  secure,  the  money  to  be  loaned  to  the 
people  in  the  locality  of  the  several  banks,  and  at  a  rate  of  interest 
to  be  fixed  by  the  Government. 

We  favor  the  immediate  development  of  a  national  system  of 
good  roads  connecting  all  States,  and  national  aid  to  States  in  the 
construction  and  maintenance  of  post  roads. 

We  favor  a  court  review  of  the  censorship  and  arbitrary  rulings 
of  the  Post-Office  Department. 

We  favor  the  admission  of  Arizona  and  New  Mexico  to  separate 
Statehood. 

We  advocate  such  legislation,  both  State  and  national,  as  will 
suppress  the  bucket-shop  and  prohibit  the  fictitious  selling  of  farm 
products  for  future  delivery. 

We  favor  the  creation  of  a  national  department  of  public  health, 
-to  be  presided  over  by  a  member  of  the  medical  profession,  this 
department  to  exercise  such  authority  over  matters  of  public  health, 
hygiene,  and  sanitation  which  comes  properly  within  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  National  Government  and  does  not  interfere  with  the 
right  of  States  or  municipalities. 

We  oppose  Asiatic  immigration  which  does  not  amalgamate  with 
our  population,  creates  race  issues  and  un  -  American  conditions, 
and  which  reduces  wages  and  tends  to  lower  the  high  standard  of 
living  and  the  high  standard  of  morality  which  American  civilization 
has  established. 

We  demand  the  passage  of  an  exclusion  act  which  shall  protect 
American  workingmen  from  competition  with  Asiatic  cheap  labor 
and  which  shall  protect  American  civilization  from  the  contamina- 
tion of  Asiatic  conditions. 

The  Independence  party  declares  for  peace  and  against  ag- 
gression, and  will  promote  the  movement  for  the  settlement  of 
international  disputes  by  arbitration. 

We  believe,  however,  that  a  small  navy  is  poor  economy,  and  that 
a  strong  navy  is  the  best  protection  in  time  of  war  and  the  best 
preventive  of  war.  We  therefore  favor  the  speedy  building  of  a 
navy  sufficiently  strong  to  protect  at  the  same  time  both  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts  of  the  United  States. 

We  rejoice  in  the  adoption  by  both  Democratic  and  Republican 

491 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

platforms  of  the  demand  of  the  Independence  party  for  improved 
national  waterways  and  the  Mississippi  inland  deep  waterways 
project,  to  complete  a  ship  canal  from  the  Gulf  to  the  Great  Lakes. 
We  favor  the  extension  of  this  system  to  the  tributaries  of  the 
Mississippi,  by  means  of  which  thirty  States  shall  be  served  and 
twenty  thousand  miles  added  to  the  coast-line  of  the  United  States. 
The  reclamation  of  arid  lands  should  be  continued  and  the  irriga- 
tion programme  now  contemplated  by  the  Government  extended, 
and  steps  taken  for  the  conservation  of  the  country's  natural  re- 
sources, which  should  be  guarded  not  only  against  devastation  and 
waste,  but  against  falling  into  the  control  of  the  monopoly.  The 
abuses  growing  out  of  the  administration  of  our  forest  preserves 
must  be  corrected,  and  provisions  should  be  made  for  free  grazing 
from  public  lands  outside  of  forest  or  other  reservations.  In  behalf 
of  the  people  residing  in  arid  portions  of  our  Western  States,  we 
protest  vigorously  against  the  policy  of  the  Federal  Government  in 
selling  the  exclusive  use  of  water  and  electric  power  derived  from 
public  works  to  private  corporations,  thus  creating  a  monopoly 
and  subjecting  citizens  living  in  those  sections  to  exorbitant  charges 
for  light  and  power,  and  diverting  enterprises  originally  started  for 
public  benefit  into  channels  for  corporate  greed  and  oppression, 
and  we  demand  that  no  more  exclusive  contracts  be  made. 

American  citizens  abroad,  whether  native  born  or  naturalized, 
and  of  whatever  race  or  creed,  must  be  secured  in  the  enjpyment  of 
all  rights  and  privileges  under  our  treaties,  and  wherever  such 
rights  are  withheld  by  any  country  on  the  ground  of  race  or  religious 
faith,  steps  should  be  taken  to  secure  the  removal  of  such  unjust 
discrimination. 

We  advocate  the  popular  election  of  United  States  Senators  and 
of  Judges,  both  Federal  and  State,  and  favor  a  graduated  in- 
come tax  and  any  constitutional  amendments  necessary  to  these 
ends. 

Equality  and  opportunity;  the  largest  measure  of  individual 
liberty  consistent  with  equal  rights;  the  overthrow  of  the  rule  of 
special  interest  and  the  restoration  of  government  by  the  majority 
exercised  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  community — these  are  the 
purposes  to  which  the  Independence  party  is  pledged,  and  we 
invite  the  co-operation  of  all  patriotic  and  progressive  citizens, 
irrespective  of  party,  who  are  in  sympathy  with  these  principles 
and  in  favor  of  their  practical  enforcement. 

j     The  national  conventions  of  the  two  great  parties  of  the 

/  country  in  1908  differed  from  any  other  like  conventions 

/  of  either  party  in  the  fact  that  the  Republican  convention 

was   absolutely   dominated   by   President    Roosevelt,   nots^ 

only  in  its  platform,   but   in   its  important   proceedings, 

and  the  Democratic  National  Convention  was  absolutely^ 

dominated  by  Mr.   Bryan,  who  was  made  the  candidate 

of  the  party  for  President.     It  was  the  first  time  in  the 

history  of  the  Republic    that  the  President  of  the  United 

States  had  practically  personally  dictated  every  important 

492 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

action  of  the  party.  Every  plank  of  the  platform  about 
which  there  was  any  dispute  was  decided  in  Washington 
and  accepted  by  the  convention  in  Chicago.  For  some 
months  before  the  meeting  of  the  convention  the  national 
administration  was  openly  and  aggressively  favoring  the 
nomination  of  Judge  Taft,  then  a  member  of  the  Cabinet. 
In  like  manner,  every  plank  of  the  Democratic  platform 
was  dictated  by  Bryan  himself,  and  he  exhibited  his 
mastery  by  forcing  the  rejection  of  Colonel  Guffey,  of 
Pennsylvania,  as  a  member  of  the  national  committee,  al- 
though -the  Democratic  organization  in  GufTey's  State 
heartily  sustained  him  and  his  leadership  during  the 
campaign.  Thus  the  two  national  conventions  of  the 
great  parties,  one  of  which  must  certainly  choose  the 
President,  were  each  absolutely  dominated  by  one  man, 
and  in  that  regard  they  present  a  singular  feature  of  our 
national  political  movements. 

The  Republican  National  Convention  met  in  Chicago 
on  June  i6th,  and  was  in  session  three  days.  Senator 
Burrows,  of  Michigan,  was  made  temporary  chairman, 
and  Senator  Lodge,  of  Massachusetts,  was  made  permanent 
chairman.  President  Roosevelt  had  exercised  all  the 
power  in  his  administration,  which  absolutely  controlled 
most  or  all  of  the  Southern  States,  to  have  delegates  chosen 
in  favor  of  the  nomination  of  Judge  Taft,  his  Secretary 
of  War.  Fortunately  for  Judge  Taft,  he  had  made  im- 
portant public  records  as  United  States  Judge,  in  re- 
habilitating the  Philippine  Islands,  and  also  as  Secretary 
of  War,  and  he  commanded  the  respect  of  all  for  his  high 
attainments  and  clean  character.  There  was  considerable 
restiveness  in  the  convention  because  of  the  obvious  pur- 
pose of  the  national  administration  to  control  the  con- 
vention, and  many  of  those  who  were  interested  in  other 
candidates  were  apprehensive  that  President  Roosevelt 
anticipated  a  dead- lock  in  the  convention,  and  that  the 
Taft  delegates  would  be  transferred  to  him  for  his  nomina- 
tion. It  was  openly  charged  that  such  was  the  purpose  of 
the  President,  but  there  is  no  tangible  evidence  to  warrant 
the  assumption.  If  any  such  movement  had  been  de- 
veloped in  the  convention,  it  was  the  purpose  of  those  in- 
terested in  other  candidates  to  at  once  transfer  their 
entire  vote  to  Judge  Taft,  and  thus  prevent  the  nomination 
of  Roosevelt.  No  such  contingency  arose,  however,  and 

493 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

Taft  was  nominated  on  the  first  ballot  by  the  following 

vote: 

Taft  702 

Knox 68 

Hughes 67 

Cannon 58 

Fairbanks   40 

La  Follette 25 

Foraker 16 

Roosevelt 3 

The  nomination  of  Taft  was  at  once  made  unanimous. 

James  S.  Sherman,  of  New  York,  was  nominated  for  Vice- 
President  on  the  first  ballot,  receiving  816  votes,  with  77 
for  Franklin  Murphy,  of  New  Jersey;  75  for  Curtis  Guild, 
of  Massachusetts;  10  for  George  L.  Sheldon,  of  Nebraska, 
and  i  for  Vice-President  Fairbanks,  of  Indiana.  The 
Republican  national  platform  was  adopted  finally  without 
a  division  after  the  minority  report  offered  by  Representa- 
tive Cooper,  of  Wisconsin,  had  been  rejected.  On  three 
different  planks  of  the  minority  report  there  were  separate 
votes  taken  by  the  convention.  One  of  them  recommended 
that  Congress  pass  a  law  requiring  national  committees 
to  make  public  campaign  contributions  as  received  during 
the  national  campaign,  another  favoring  a  physical  valua- 
tion of  the  railroads  by  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission, and  another  recommending  the  election  of  United 
States  Senators  by  popular  vote.  The  following  is  the 
full  text  of  the  platform  as  adopted  by  the  convention: 

Once  more  the  Republican  party,  in  national  convention  as- 
sembled, submits  its  cause  to  the  people.  This  great  historic  or- 
ganization, that  destroyed  slavery,  preserved  the  Union,  restored 
credit,  expanded  the  national  domain,  established  a  sound  finan- 
cial system,  developed  the  industries  and  resources  of  the  coun- 
try, and  gave  to  the  Nation  her  seat  of  honor  in  the  councils  of 
the  world,  now  meets  the  new  problems  of  government  with  the 
same  courage  and  capacity  with  which  it  solved  the  old. 

REPUBLICANISM  UNDER  ROOSEVELT 

In  this  greatest  era  of  American  advancement  the  Republican 
party  has  reached  its  highest  service  under  the  leadership  of 
Theodore  Roosevelt.  His  administration  is  an  epoch  in  American 
history.  In  no  other  period  since  national  sovereignty  was  won 
under  Washington,  or  preserved  under  Lincoln,  has  there  been 
such  mighty  progress  in  those  ideals  of  government  which  make 
for  justice,  equality,  and  fair  dealing  among  men.  The  highest 

494 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

aspirations  of  the  American  people  have  found  a  voice.  Their 
most  exalted  servant  represents  the  best  aims  and  worthiest 
puq>oses  of  all  his  countrymen.  American  manhood  has  been 
lifted  to  a  nobler  sense  of  duty  and  obligation.  Conscience  and 
courage  in  public  station  and  higher  standards  of  right  and  wrong 
in  private  life  have  become  cardinal  principles  of  political  faith; 
capital  and  labor  have  been  brought  into  closer  relations  of  con- 
fidence and  interdependence;  and  the  abuse  of  wealth,  the  tyranny 
of  power,  and  all  the  evils  of  privilege  and  favoritism  have  been 
put  to  scorn  by  the  simple,  manly  virtues  of  justice  and  fair  play. 

The  great  accomplishments  of  President  Roosevelt  have  been, 
first  and  foremost,  a  brave  and  impartial  enforcement  of  the  law; 
the  prosecution  of  illegal  trusts  and  monopolies;  the  exposure  and 
punishment  of  evil-doers  in  the  public  service;  the  more  effective 
regulation  of  the  rates  and  service  of  the  great  transportation 
lines;  the  complete  overthrow  of  preferences,  rebates,  and  dis- 
criminations; the  arbitration  of  labor  disputes;  the  amelioration 
of  the  condition  of  wage-workers  everywhere;  the  conservation 
of  the  natural  resources  of  the  country;  the  forward  step  in  the 
improvement  of  the  inland  waterways,  and  always  the  earnest 
support  and  defence  of  every  wholesome  safeguard  which  has 
made  more  secure  the  guaranties  of  life,  liberty,  and  property. 

These  are  the  achievements  that  will  make  Theodore  Roose- 
velt his  place  in  history,  but  more  than  all  else  the  great  things 
he  has  done  will  be  an  inspiration  to  those  who  have  yet  greater 
things  to  do.  We  declare  our  unfaltering  adherence  to  the  poli- 
cies thus  inaugurated,  and  pledge  their  continuance  under  a  Re- 
publican administration  of  the  Government. 

EQUALITY    OF    OPPORTUNITY 

Under  the  guidance  of  Republican  principles  the  American 
people  have  become  the  richest  nation  in  the  world.  Our  wealth 
to-day  exceeds  that  of  England  and  all  her  colonies,  and  that  of 
France  and  Germany  combined.  When  the  Republican  party- 
was  born  the  total  wealth  of  the  country  was  $16,000,000,000.  ft 
has  leaped  to  $110,000,000,000  in  a  generation,  while  Great  Britain 
has  gathered  but  $60,000,000,000  in  five  hundred  years.  The 
United  States  now  owns  one-fourth  of  the  world's  wealth  and 
makes  one-third  of  all  modern  manufactured  products.  In  the 
great  necessities  of  civilization,  such  as  coal,  the  motive  power 
of  all  activity;  iron,  the  chief  basis  of  all  industry;  cotton,  the 
staple  foundation  of  all  fabrics;  wheat,  corn,  and  all  the  agricul- 
tural products  that  feed  mankind,  America's  supremacy  is  un- 
disputed. And  yet  her  great  natural  wealth  has  been  scarcely 
touched.  We  have  a  vast  domain  of  three  million  square  miles 
literally  bursting  with  latent  treasure,  still  waiting  the  magic 
of  capital  and  industry  to  be  converted  to  the  practical  uses  of 
mankind;  a  country  rich  in  soil  and  climate,  in  the  unharnessed 
energy  of  its  rivers,  and  in  all  the  varied  products  of  the  field, 
the  forest,  and  the  factory.  With  gratitude  for  God's  bounty, 
with  pride  in  the  splendid  productiveness  of  the  past,  and  with 
confidence  in  the  plenty  and  prosperity  of  the  future,  the  Repub- 
lican party  declares  for  the  principle  that  in  the  development  and 

33  495 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

enjoyment  of  wealth  so  great  and  blessings  so  benign  there  shall 
be  equal  opportunity  for  all. 

THE    REVIVAL    OF    BUSINESS 

Nothing  so  clearly  demonstrates  the  sound  basis  upon  which 
our  commercial,  industrial,  and  agricultural  interests  are  founded, 
and  the  necessity  of  promoting  their  continued  welfare  through 
the  operation  of  Republican  policies,  as  the  recent  safe  passage  of 
the  American  people  through  a  financial  disturbance  which,  if 
appearing  in  the  midst  of  Democratic  rule  or  the  menace  of  it, 
might  have  equalled  the  familiar  Democratic  panics  of  the  past. 
We  congratulate  the  people  upon  this  renewed  evidence  of  Ameri- 
can supremacy  and  hail  with  confidence  the  signs  now  manifest  of 
a  complete  restoration  of  business  prosperity  in  all  lines  of  trade, 
commerce,  and  manufacturing. 

RECENT    REPUBLICAN    LEGISLATION 

Since  the  election  of  William  McKinley  in  1896  the  people  of 
this  country  have  felt  anew  the  wisdom  of  intrusting  to  the  Repub- 
lican party  through  decisive  majorities  the  control  and  direction 
of  national  legislation. 

The  many  wise  and  progressive  measures  adopted  at  recent 
sessions  of  Congress  have  demonstrated  the  patriotic  resolve  of 
Republican  leadership  in  the  legislative  department  to  keep  step 
in  the  forward  march  toward  better  government. 

Notwithstanding  the  indefensible  filibustering  of  a  Demo- 
cratic minority  in  the  House  of  Representatives  during  the  last 
session  many  wholesome  and  progressive  laws  were  enacted,  and 
we  especially  commend  the  passage  of  the  emergency  currency 
bill,  the  appointment  of  the  National  Monetary  Commission,  the 
employers'  and  Government  liability  laws,  the  measures  for  the 
greater  efficiency  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  the  widows'  pension  bill, 
the  child  labor  law  for  the  District  of  Columbia,  the  new  statute 
for  the  safety  of  railroad  engineers  and  firemen,  and  many  other 
acts  conserving  the  public  welfare. 

REPUBLICAN  PLEDGES  FOR  THE  FUTURE 

Tariff. 

The  Republican  party  declares  unequivocally  for  the  revision 
of  the  tariff  by  a  special  session  of  Congress  immediately  follow- 
ing the  inauguration  of  the  next  President,  and  commends  the 
steps  already  taken  to  this  end  in  the  work  assigned  to  the  appro- 
priate committees  of  Congress  which  are  now  investigating  the 
operation  and  effect  of  existing  schedules.  In  all  tariff  legislation 
the  true  principle  of  protection  is  best  maintained  by  the  impo- 
sition of  such  duties  as  will  equal  the  difference  between  the  cost 
of  production  at  home  and.  abroad,  together  with  a  reasonable 
profit  to  American  industries.  We  favor  the  establishment  of 
maximum  and  minimum  rates  to  be  administered  by  the  President 
under  limitations  fixed  in  the  law,  the  maximum  to  be  available  to 
meet  discriminations  by  foreign  countries  against  American  goods 
entering  their  markets,  and  the  minimum  to  represent  the  normal 

496 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

measure  of  protection  at  home,  the  aim  and  purpose  of  the  Re- 
publican policy  being  not  only  to  preserve,  without  excessive 
.duties,  that  security  against  foreign  competition  to  which  Amer- 
ican manufacturers,  farmers,  and  producers  are  entitled,  but 
also  to  maintain  the  high  standard  of  living  of  the  wage-earners 
of  this  country,  who  are  the  most  direct  beneficiaries  of  the  pro- 
tective system.  Between  the  United  States  and  the  Philippines 
we  believe  in  a  free  interchange  of  products  with  such  limitations 
as  to  sugar  and  tobacco  as  will  afford  adequate  protection  to 
domestic  interests. 

Currency. 

We  approve  the  emergency  measures  adopted  by  the  Govern- 
ment during  the  recent  financial  disturbance,  and  especially 
commend  the  passage  by  Congress  at  the  last  session  of  the  law 
designed  to  protect  the  country  from  a  repetition  of  such  strin- 
gency. The  Republican  party  is  committed  to  the  development  of 
a  permanent  currency  system  responding  to  our  great  needs,  and 
the  appointment  of  the  National  Monetary  Commission  by  the 
present  Congress,  which  will  impartially  investigate  all  proposed 
methods,  insures  the  early  realization  of  this  purpose.  The  present 
currency  laws  have  fully  justified  their  adoption,  but  an  expand- 
ing commerce,  a  marvellous  growth  in  wealth  and  population, 
multiplying  the  centres  of  distribution,  increasing  the  demand 
for  the  movement  of  crops  in  the  West  and  South,  and  entailing 
periodic  changes  in  monetary  conditions,  disclose  the  need  of  a 
more  elastic  and  adaptable  system.  Such  a  system  must  meet 
the  requirements  of  agriculturists,  manufacturers,  merchants,  and 
business  men  generally,  must  be  automatic  in  operation,  minimiz- 
ing the  fluctuations  in  interest  rates,  and,  above  all,  must  be  in 
harmony  with  that  Republican  doctrine  which  insists  that  every 
dollar  shall  be  based  upon  and  as  good  as  gold. 

Postal  Savings. 

We  favor  the  establishment  of  a  postal  savings  bank  system 
for  the  convenience  of  the  people  and  the  encouragement  of  thrift. 

Trusts. 

The  Republican  party  passed  the  Sherman  Anti-Trust  law  over 
Democratic  opposition  and  enforced  it  after  Democratic  derelic- 
tion. It  has  been  a  wholesome  instrument  for  good  in  the  hands 
of  a  wise  and  fearless  administration.  But  experience  has  shown 
that  its  effectiveness  can  be  strengthened  and  its  real  objects 
better  attained  by  such  amendments  as  will  give  to  the  Federal 
Government  greater  supervision  and  control  over  and  secure 
greater  publicity  in  the  management  of  that  class  of  corpora- 
tions engaged  in  interstate  commerce  having  power  and  oppor- 
tunity to  effect  monopolies. 

Railroads. 

We  approve  the  enactment  of  the  railroad  rate  law  and  the 
vigorous  enforcement  by  the  present  administration  of  the  stat- 
utes against  rebates  and  discriminations,  as  a  result  of  which 
the  advantages  formerly  possessed  by  the  large  shipper  over  the 
small  shipper  have  substantially  disappeared;  and  in  this  con- 

497 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

nection  we  commend  the  appropriation  by  the  present  Congress 
to  enable  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  to  thoroughly  in- 
vestigate and  give  publicity  to  the  accounts  of  interstate  rail- 
roads. We  believe,  however,  that  the  interstate  commerce  law 
should  be  further  amended  so  as  to  give  railroads  the  right  to 
make  and  publish  traffic  agreements  subject  to  the  approval  of  the 
commission,  but  maintaining  always  the  principle  of  competition 
between  naturally  competing  lines  and  avoiding  the  common  con- 
trol of  such  lines  by  any  means  whatsoever.  We  favor  such 
national  legislation  and  supervision  as  will  prevent  the  future 
overissue  of  stocks  and  bonds  by  interstate  carriers. 

Railroad  and  Government  Employes. 

The  enactment  in  constitutional  form  at  the  present  session 
of  Congress  of  the  employers'  liability  law,  the  passage  and  en- 
forcement of  the  safety  appliance  statutes,  as  well  as  the  addi- 
tional protection  secured  for  engineers  and  firemen,  the  reduction 
in  the  hours  of  labor  of  trainmen  and  railroad  telegraphers,  the 
successful  exercise  of  the  powers  of  mediation  and  arbitration 
between  interstate  railroads  and  their  employes,  and  the  law 
making  a  beginning  in  the  policy  of  compensation  for  injured 
employes  of  the  Government,  are  among  the  most  commendable 
accomplishments  of  the  present  administration.  But  there  is 
further  work  in  this  direction  yet  to  be  done,  and  the  Republican 
party  pledges  its  continued  devotion  to  every  cause  that  makes 
for  safety  and  the  betterment  of  conditions  among  those  whose 
labor  contributes  so  much  to  the  progress  and  welfare  of  the 
country. 

Wage-Earners  Generally. 

The  same  wise  policy  which  has  induced  the  Republican  party 
to  maintain  protection  to  American  labor,  to  establish  an  eight- 
hour  day  in  the  construction  of  all  public  works,  to  increase  the 
list  of  employes  who  shall  have  preferred  claims  for  wages  under 
the  bankruptcy  laws,  to  adopt  a  child  labor  statute  for  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  to  direct  an  investigation  into  the  condition 
of  working  women  and  children  and,  later,  of  employes  of  tele- 
phone and  telegraph  companies  engaged  in  interstate  business, 
to  appropriate  $150,000  at  the  recent  session  of  Congress  in  order 
to  secure  a  thorough  inquiry  into  the  causes  of  catastrophes  and 
loss  of  life  in  the  mines,  and  to  amend  and  strengthen  the  law 
prohibiting  _  the  importation  of  contract  labor,  will  be  pursued  in 
every  legitimate  direction  within  Federal  authority  to  lighten 
the  burdens  and  increase  the  opportunity  for  happiness  and  ad- 
vancement of  all  who  toil.  The  Republican  party  recognizes 
special  needs  of  wage-workers  generally,  for  their  well-being  means 
the  well-being  of  all.  But  more  important  than  all  other  con- 
siderations is  that  of  good  citizenship,  and  we  especially  stand 
for  the  needs  of  every  American,  whatever  his  occupation,  in  his 
capacity  as  a  self-respecting  citizen. 

Court  Procedure. 

The  Republican  party  will  uphold  at  all  times  the  authority 
and  integrity  of  the  courts,  State  and  Federal,  and  will  ever  in- 

498 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

sist  that  their  powers  to  enforce  their  process  and  to  protect  life, 
liberty,  and  property  shall  be  preserved  inviolate.  We  believe,  how- 
ever, that  the  rules  of  procedure  in  the  Federal  Courts  with 
respect  to  the  issuance  of  the  writ  of  injunction  should  be  more 
accurately  denned  by  statute,  and  that  no  injunction  or  temporary 
restraining  order  should  be  issued  without  notice,  except  where 
irreparable  injury  would  result  from  delay,  in  which  case  a  speedy 
hearing  thereafter  should  be  granted. 

Tlie  American  Farmer. 

Among  those  whose  welfare  is  as  vital  to  the  welfare  of  the 
whole  country  as  that  of  the  wage-earner  is  the  American  farmer. 
The  prosperity  of  the  country  rests  peculiarly  upon  the  prosper- 
ity of  agriculture.  The  Republican  party  during  the  last  twelve 
years  has  accomplished  extraordinary  work  in  bringing  the  re- 
sources of  the  National  Government  to  the  aid  of  the  farmer,  not 
only  in  advancing  agriculture  itself,  but  in  increasing  the  conven- 
iences of  rural  life.  Free  rural  mail  delivery  has  been  established; 
it  now  reaches  millions  of  our  citizens,  and  we  favor  its  extension 
until  every  community  in  the  land  receives  the  full  benefits  of  the 
postal  service.  We  recognize  the  social  and  economical  advantages 
of  good  country  roads,  maintained  more  and  more  largely  at  public 
expense,  and  less  and  less  at  the  expense  of  the  abutting  owner. 
In  this  work  we  commend  the  growing  practice  of  State  aid,  and 
we  approve  the  efforts  of  the  National  Agricultural  Department, 
by  experiments  and  otherwise,  to  make  clear  to  the  public  the  best 
methods  of  road  construction. 

Rights  of  the  Negro. 

The  Republican  party  has  been  for  more  than  fifty  years  the 
consistent  friend  of  the  American  negro.  It  gave  him  freedom 
and  citizenship.  It  wrote  into  the  organic  law  the  declarations 
that  proclaim  his  civil  and  political  rights,  and  it  believes  to-day 
that  his  noteworthy  progress  in  intelligence,  industry,  and  good 
citizenship  has  earned  the  respect  and  encouragement  of  the 
nation.  We  demand  equal  justice  for  all  men,  without  regard  to 
race  or  color;  we  declare  once  more,  and  without  reservation,  for 
the  enforcement  in  letter  and  spirit  of  the  Thirteenth,  Fourteenth, 
and  Fifteenth  Amendments  to  the  Constitution,  which  were 
designed  for  the  protection  and  advancement  of  the  negro,  and  we 
condemn  all  devices  that  have  for  their  real  aim  his  disfranchise- 
ment  for  reasons  of  color  alone  as  unfair,  un-American,  and  re- 
pugnant to  the  supreme  law  of  the  land. 

Natural  Resources  and  Waterways. 

We  indorse  the  movement  inaugurated  by  the  administration 
for  the  conservation  of  natural  resources;  we  approve  all  meas- 
ures to  prevent  the  waste  of  timber;  we  commend  the  work  now 
going  on  for  the  reclamation  of  arid  lands,  and  reaffirm  the  Re- 
publican policy  of  the  free  distribution  of  the  available  areas  of 
the  public  domain  to  the  landless  settler.  No  obligation  of  the 
future  is  more  insistent  and  none  will  result  in  greater  blessings 
to  posterity.  In  line  with  this  splendid  undertaking  is  the  fur- 
ther duty,  equally  imperative,  to  enter  upon  a  systematic  improve- 

499 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

ment  upon  a  large  and  comprehensive  plan,  just  to  all  portions  of 
the  country,  of  the  waterways,  harbors,  and  great  lakes,  whose 
natural  adaptability  to  the  increasing  traffic  of  the  land  is  one  of 
the  greatest  gifts  of  a  benign  Providence. 

The  Army  and  Navy. 

The  Sixtieth  Congress  passed  many  commendable  acts  in- 
creasing the  efficiency  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  making  the  militia 
of  the  States  an  integral  part  of  the  national  establishment,  au- 
thorizing joint  manoeuvres  of  army  and  militia,  fortifying  new 
naval  bases  and  completing  the  construction  of  coaling  stations, 
instituting  a  female  nurse  corps  for  naval  hospitals  and  ships, 
and  adding  two  new  battleships,  ten  torpedo-boat  destroyers, 
three  steam  colliers,  and  eight  submarines  to  the  strength  of 
the  Navy.  Although  at  peace  with  all  the  world,  and  secure 
in  the  consciousness  that  the  American  people  do  not  desire  and 
will  not  provoke  a  war  with  any  other  country,  we  nevertheless 
declare  our  unalterable  devotion  to  a  policy  that  will  keep  this 
Republic  ready  at  all  times  to  defend  her  traditional  doctrines,  and 
assure  her  appropriate  part  in  promoting  permanent  tranquillity 
among  the  nations. 

Protection  of  American  Citizens  Abroad. 

We  commend  the  vigorous  efforts  made  by  the  administration 
to  protect  American  citizens  in  foreign  lands,  and  pledge  our- 
selves to  insist  upon  the  just  and  equal  protection  of  all  our  citi- 
zens abroad.  It  is  the  unquestioned  duty  of  the  Government  to 
procure  for  all  our  citizens,  without  distinction,  the  rights  to 
travel  and  sojourn  in  friendly  countries,  and  we  declare  ourselves 
in  favor  of  all  proper  efforts  tending  to  that  end. 

Extension  of  Foreign  Commerce. 

Under  the  administration  of  the  Republican  party  the  foreign 
commerce  of  the  United  States  has  experienced  a  remarkable 
growth  until  it  has  a  present  annual  valuation  of  approximately 
three  billions  of  dollars,  and  gives  employment  to  a  vast  amount 
of  labor  and  capital  which  would  otherwise  be  idle.  It  has  inau- 
gurated, through  the  recent  visit  of  the  Secretary  of  State  to 
South  America  and  Mexico,  a  new  era  of  Pan-American  commerce 
and  comity,  which  is  bringing  us  into  closer  touch  with  pur 
twenty  sister  American  Republics,  having  a  common  historical 
heritage,  a  republican  form  of  government,  ^  and  offering  us  a 
limitless  field  of  legitimate  commercial  expansion. 

Arbitration  and  The  Hague  Treaties. 

The  conspicuous  contributions  of  American  statesmanship  to 
the  great  cause  of  international  peace,  so  signally  advanced  in 
The  Hague  conferences,  are  an  occasion  for  just  pride  and  gratifi- 
cation. At  the  last  session  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States 
eleven  Hague  conventions  were  ratified,  establishing  the  rights  of 
neutrals,  laws  of  war  on  land,  restriction  of  submarine  mines, 
limiting  the  use  of  force  for  the  collection  of  contractual  debts, 
governing  the  opening  of  hostilities,  extending  the  application  of 
Geneva  principles,  and,  in  many  ways,  lessening  the  evils  of  war 
and  promoting  the  peaceful  settlement  of  international  contro- 

500 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

versies.  At  the  same  session  twelve  arbitration  conventions  with 
great  nations  were  confirmed  and  extradition,  boundary,  and 
naturalization  treaties  of  supreme  importance  were  ratified.  We 
indorse  such  achievements  as  the  highest  duty  a  people  can  per- 
form, and  proclaim  the  obligation  of  further  strengthening  the 
bonds  of  friendship  and  good- will  with  all  nations  of  the  world. 

Merchant  Marine. 

We  adhere  to  the  Republican  doctrine  of  encouragement  to 
American  shipping,  and  urge  such  legislation  as  will  revive  the 
merchant  marine  prestige  of  the  country,  so  essential  to  national 
defence,  the  enlargement  of  foreign  trade,  and  the  industrial  pros- 
perity of  our  own  people. 

Veterans  of  the  Wars. 

Another  Republican  policy  which  must  be  ever  maintained  is 
that  of  generous  provision  for  those  who  have  fought  the  coun- 
try's battles  and  for  the  widows  and  orphans  of  those  who  have 
fallen.  We  commend  the  increase  in  the  widows'  pensions  made 
by  the  present  Congress,  and  declare  for  a  liberal  administration 
of  all  pension  laws,  to  the  end  that  the  people's  gratitude  may 
grow  deeper  as  the  memories  of  heroic  sacrifice  grow  more  sacred 
with  the  passing  years. 

Civil  Service. 

We  reaffirm  our  former  declaration  that  the  civil  service  laws, 
enacted,  extended,  and  enforced  by  the  Republican  party,  shall 
continue  to  be  maintained  and  obeyed. 

Public  Health. 

We  commend  the  efforts  designed  to  secure  greater  efficiency 
in  national  public  health  agencies,  and  favor  such  legislation  as 
will  effect  this  purpose. 

Bureau  of  Mines  and  Mining. 

In  the  interest  of  the  great  mineral  industries  of  our  country, 
we  earnestly  favor  the  establishment  of  a  Bureau  of  Mines  and 
Mining. 

Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  Philippines,  and  Panama. 

The  American  Government,  in  Republican  hands,  has  freed 
Cuba,  giving  peace  and  protection  to  Porto  Rico  and  the  Philip- 
pines under  our  flag,  and  begun  the  construction  of  the  Panama 
Canal.  The  present  conditions  in  Cuba  vindicate  the  wisdom  of 
maintaining  between  that  Republic  and  this  imperishable  bonds 
of  mutual  interest,  and  the  hope  is  now  expressed  that  the  Cuban 
people  will  soon  again  be  ready  to  assume  complete  sovereignty 
over  their  land. 

In  Porto  Rico  the  Government  of  the  United  States  is  meeting 
loyal  and  patriotic  support;  order  and  prosperity  prevail,  and  the 
well-being  of  the  people  is  in  every  respect  promoted  and  con- 
served. 

We  believe  that  the  native  inhabitants  of  Porto  Rico  should  be 
at  once  collectively  made  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  that 
all  others  properly  qualified  under  existing  laws  residing  in  said 
island  should  have  the  privilege  of  becoming  naturalized. 

501 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

In  the  Philippines  insurrection  has  been  suppressed,  law  es- 
tablished, and  life  and  property  made  secure.  Education  and  prac- 
tical experience  are  there  advancing  the  capacity  of  the  people  for 
government,  and  the  policies  of  McKinley  and  Roosevelt  are  lead- 
ing the  inhabitants  step  by  step  to  an  ever- increasing  measure  of 
home  rule. 

Time  has  justified  the  selection  of  the  Panama  route  for  the 
great  Isthmian  Canal,  and  events  have  shown  the  wisdom  of  se- 
curing authority  over  the  zone  through  which  it  is  to  be  built. 
The  work  is  now  progressing  with  a  rapidity  far  beyond  expec- 
tation, and  already  the  realization  of  the  hopes  of  centuries  has 
come  within  the  vision  of  the  near  future. 

New  Mexico  and  Arizona. 

We  favor  the  immediate  admission  of  the  Territories  of  New 
Mexico  and  Arizona  as  separate  States  in  the  Union. 

Centenary  of  the  Birth  of  Lincoln. 

February  12,  1909,  will  be  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of 
the  birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  an  immortal  spirit  whose  fame  has 
brightened  with  the  receding  years,  and  whose  name  stands  among 
the  first  of  those  given  to  the  world  by  the  great  Republic.  We 
recommend  that  this  centennial  anniversary  be  celebrated  through- 
out the  confines  of  the  nation  by  all  the  people  thereof,  and  es- 
pecially by  the  public  schools,  as  an  exercise  to  stir  the  patriotism 
of  the  youth  of  the  land. 

DEMOCRATIC    INCAPACITY    FOR   GOVERNMENT 

We  call  the  attention  of  the  American  people  to  the  fact  that 
none  of  the  great  measures  here  advocated  by  the  Republican 
Party  could  be  enacted  and  none  of  the  steps  forward  here  pro- 
posed could  be  taken  under  a  Democratic  administration  or  under 
one  in  which  party  responsibility  is  divided.  The  continuance  of 
present  policies,  therefore,  absolutely  requires  the  continuance  in 
power  of  that  party  which  believes  in  them  and  which  possesses 
the  capacity  to  put  them  into  operation. 

FUNDAMENTAL      DIFFERENCES       BETWEEN       DEMOCRACY       AND 
REPUBLICANISM 

Beyond  all  platform  declarations  there  are  fundamental  dif- 
ferences between  the  Republican  party  and  its  chief  opponent 
which  makes  the  one  worthy  and  the  other  unworthy  of  public 
trust. 

In  history  the  difference  between  Democracy  and  Republican- 
ism is  that  the  one  stood  for  debased  currency,  the  other  for  honest 
currency;  the  one  for  free  silver,  the  other  for  sound  money;  the 
one  for  free  trade,  the  other  for  protection;  the  one  for  the  con- 
traction of  American  influence,  the  other  for  its  expansion;  the  one 
has  been  forced  to  abandon  every  position  taken  on  the  great  issues 
before  the  people,  the  other  has  held  and  vindicated  all. 

In  experience,  the  difference  between  Democracy  and  Republi- 
canism is  that  one  means  adversity,  while  the  other  means  pros- 

502 


AND   HOW   WE   MAKE  THEM 

perity;  one  means  low  wages,  the  other  means  high;  one  means 
doubt  and  debt,  the  other  means  confidence  and  thrift. 

In  principle,  the  difference  between  Democracy  and  Republi- 
canism is  that  one  stands  for  vacillation  and  timidity  in  govern- 
ment, the  other  for  strength  and  purpose;  one  promises,  the  other 
performs;  one  finds  fault,  the  other  finds  work. 

The  present  tendencies  of  the  two  parties  are  even  more  marked 
by  inherent  differences.  The  trend  of  Democracy  is  toward 
socialism,  while  the  Republican  party  stands  for  a  wise  and  reg- 
ulated individualism.  Socialism  would  destroy  wealth.  Re- 
publicanism would  prevent  its  abuse.  Socialism  would  give  to 
each  an  equal  right  to  take;  Republicanism  would  give  to  each  an 
equal  right  to  earn.  Socialism  would  offer  an  equality  of  possession 
which  would  soon  leave  no  one  anything  to  possess;  Republicanism 
would  give  equality  of  opportunity  which  would  assure  to  each 
his  share  of  a  constantly  increasing  sum  of  possessions.  In  line 
with  this  tendency  the  Democratic  party  of  to-day  believes  in 
government  ownership,  while  the  Republican  party  believes  in 
government  regulation.  Ultimately  Democracy  would  have  the 
nation  own  the  people,  while  Republicanism  would  have  the  people 
own  the  nation. 

Upon  this  platform  of  principles,  of  purposes,  reaffirming  our 
adherence  to  every  Republican  doctrine  proclaimed  since  the  birth 
of  the  party,  we  go  before  the  country  asking  the  support  not 
only  of  those  who  have  acted  with  us  heretofore,  but  of  all  our 
fellow-citizens  who,  regardless  of  past  political  differences,  unite 
in  the  desire  to  maintain  the  policies,  perpetuate  the  blessings, 
and  make  secure  the  achievements  of  a  greater  America. 

The  Democratic  National  Convention  met  in  Denver  on 
July  yth,  and  was  in  session  four  days.  Theodore  A.  Bell, 
of  California,  was  made  temporary  chairman,  and  Henry 
D.  Clayton,  of  Alabama,  was  made  permanent  chairman. 
Mr.  Bryan,  who  was  nominated  for  President,  was  in  con- 
stant telegraphic  communication  with  the  convention,  and 
practically  dictated,  not  only  its  platform  and  its  candidate 
for  Vice-President,  but  forced  the  convention  to  overthrow 
Colonel  Guffey,  of  Pennsylvania,  as  a  member  of  the  Na- 
tional Committee,  as  Guffey  was  not  favorable  to  the 
renomination  of  Bryan.  There  was  an  earnest  and  ag- 
gressive minority  opposed  to  Bryan  and  all  that  Bryan 
stood  for,  but  the  convention  was  a  mere  echo  of  Bryan's 
wishes.  He  was  nominated  for  President  on  the  first 
ballot,  receiving  89  2  J  to  59  J  for  Gray  and  46  for  Johnson, 
and  Bryan's  nomination  was  promptly  made  unanimous. 
There  were  a  number  of  aspirants  for  Vice-President,  but 
Bryan  indicated  a  preference  for  John  W.  Kern,  of  Indiana, 
whose  name  was  promptly  presented  to  the  convention. 
Several  other  names  were  also  presented,  but  they  were 

503 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

finally  all  withdrawn  and  Kern  was  nominated  by  acclama- 
tion. The  platform  was  all  either  prepared  or  dictated 
by  Bryan  himself,  and  was  adopted  without  serious  con- 
test, as  follows: 

We,  the  representatives  of  the  Democracy  of  the  United  States, 
in  national  convention  assembled,  reaffirm  our  belief  in  and 
pledge  our  loyalty  to  the  principles  of  the  party. 

We  rejoice  at  the  increasing  signs  of  an  awakening  throughout 
the  country.  The  various  investigations  have  traced  graft  and 
political  corruption  tc  the  representatives  of  predatory  wealth, 
and  laid  bare  the  unscrupulous  methods  by  which  they  have 
debauched  elections  and  preyed  upon  a  defenseless  public  through 
the  subservient  officials  whom  they  have  raised  to  place  and 
power. 

The  conscience  of  the  nation  is  now  aroused  and  will  free  the 
Government  from  the  grip  of  those  who  have  made  it  a  business 
asset  of  the  favor-seeking  corporations.  It  must  become  again  a 
people's  Government,  and  be  administered  in  all  departments 
according  to  the  Jeffersonian  maxim — "equal  rights  to  all;  special 
privileges  to  none." 

"Shall  the  people  rule?"  is  the  overwhelming  issue  which  mani- 
fests itself  in  all  the  questions  now  under  discussion. 

INCREASE    OF    OFFICE-HOLDERS 

Coincident  with  the  enormous  increase  in  expenditures  is  a  like 
addition  to  the  number  of  office-holders.  During  the  past  year 
23,784  were  added,  costing  $16,156,000,  and  in  the  past  six  years 
of  Republican  Administration  the  total  number  of  new  offices 
created,  aside  from  many  commissions,  has  been  99,319,  entailing 
an  additional  expenditure  of  nearly  $70,000,000,  as  against  only 
10,279  new  offices  created  under  the  Cleveland  and  McKinley 
Administrations,  which  involved  an  expenditure  of  only  $6,000,000. 
We  denounce  this  great  and  growing  increase  in  the  number  of 
office-holders  as  not  only  unnecessary  and  wasteful,  but  also  as 
clearly  indicating  a  deliberate  purpose  on  the  part  of  the  Adminis- 
tration to  keep  the  Republican  party  in  power  at  public  expense 
by  thus  increasing  the  number  of  its  retainers  and  dependents. 
Such  procedure  we  declare  to  be  no  less  dangerous  and  corrupt  than 
the  open  purchase  of  votes  at  the  polls. 

ECONOMY    IN    ADMINISTRATION 

The  Republican  Congress  in  the  session  just  ended  made  appro- 
priations amounting  to  $1,008,000,000,  exceeding  the  total  ex- 
penditures of  the  past  fiscal  year  by  $90,000,000,  and  leaving 
a  deficit  of  more  than  $60,000,000  for  the  fiscal  year  just  ended. 
We  denounce  the  needless  waste  of  the  people's  nioney,  which  has 
resulted  in  the  appalling  increase,  as  a  shameful  violation  of  all 
prudent  considerations  of  government  and  as  no  less  than  a  crime 
against  the  millions  of  working  men  and  women,  from  whose  earn- 
ings the  great  proportion  of  these  colossal  sums  must  be  extorted 

5°4 


AND   HOW   WE   MAKE  THEM 

through  excessive  tariff  exactions  and  other  indirect  methods.  It 
is  not  surprising  that,  in  the  face  of  this  shocking  record,  the  Re- 
publican platform  contains  no  reference  to  economical  administra- 
tion or  promise  thereof  in  the  future.  We  demand  that  a  stop  be 
put  to  this  frightful  extravagance,  and  insist  upon  the  strictest 
economy  in  every  department,  compatible  with  frugal  and  ef- 
ficient administration. 

ARBITRARY    POWER THE    SPEAKER 

The  House  of  Representatives  was  designed  by  the  fathers  of 
the  Constitution  to  be  the  popular  branch  of  our  Government, 
responsive  of  the  public  will. 

The  House  of  Representatives,  as  controlled  in  recent  years  by 
the  Republican  party,  has  ceased  to  be  a  deliberative  and  legisla- 
tive body,  responsive  to  the  will  of  the  majority  of  its  members, 
but  has  come  under  the  absolute  domination  of  the  Speaker,  who 
has  entire  control  of  its  deliberations  and  powers  of  legislation. 

We  have  observed,  with  amazement,  the  popular  branch  of  our 
Federal  Government  helpless  to  obtain  either  the  consideration  or 
enactment  of  measures  desired  by  a  majority  of  its  members. 

Legislative  control  becomes  a  failure  when  one  member  in  the 
person  of  the  Speaker  is  more  powerful  than  the  entire  body. 

We  demand  that  the  House  of  Representatives  shall  again  be- 
come a  deliberative  body,  controlled  by  a  majority  of  the  people's 
representatives,  and  not  by  the  Speaker;  and  we  pledge  ourselves 
to  adopt  such  rules  and  regulations  to  govern  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives as  will  enable  a  majority  of  its  members  to  direct 
its  deliberations  and  control  legislation. 

MISUSE    OF    PATRONAGE 

We  condemn  as  a  violation  of  the  spirit  of  our  institutions  the 
action  of  the  present  Chief  Executive  in  using  the  patronage  of  his 
high  office  to  secure  the  nomination  for  the  Presidency  of  one  of 
his  Cabinet  officers.  A  forced  succession  in  the  Presidency  is 
scarcely  less  repugnant  to  public  sentiment  than  is  life  tenure  in 
that  office.  No  good  intention  on  the  part  of  the  Executive,  and 
no  virtue  in  the  one  selected,  can  justify  the  establishment  of  a 
dynasty.  The  right  of  the  people  to  freely  select  their  officials  is 
inalienable  and  cannot  be  delegated. 

PUBLICITY    OF    CAMPAIGN    CONTRIBUTIONS 

We  demand  Federal  legislation  forever  terminating  the  partner- 
ship which  has  existed  between  corporations  of  the  country  and  the 
Republican  party  under  the  expressed  or  implied  agreement  that 
in  return  for  the  contribution  of  great  sums  of  money  wherewith  to 
purchase  elections  they  should  be  allowed  to  continue  substantially 
unmolested  in  their  efforts  to  encroach  upon  the  rights  of  the 
people. 

Any  reasonable  doubt  as  to  the  existence  of  this  relation  has  been 
dispelled  by  the  sworn  testimony  of  witnesses  examined  in  the  in- 
surance investigation  in  New  York,  and  the  open  admission  of  a 
single  individual — unchallenged  by  the  Republican  National  Com- 

505 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

mittee — that  he  himself,  at  the  personal  request  of  the  then  Re- 
publican candidate  for  the  Presidency,  raised  over  a  quarter  of  a 
million  of  dollars  to  be  used  in  a  single  State  during  the  closing 
hours  of  the  last  campaign.  In  order  that  this  practice  shall  be 
stopped  for  all  time,  we  demand  the  passage  of  a  statute  punishing 
by  imprisonment  any  officer  of  a  corporation  who  shall  either  con- 
tribute on  behalf  of,  or  consent  to  the  contribution  by,  a  corpora- 
tion of  any  money  or  thing  of  value  to  be  used  in  furthering  the 
election  of  a  President  or  Vice- President  of  the  United  States  or 
any  member  of  the  Congress  thereof. 

We  denounce  the  Republican  party,  having  complete  control 
of  the  Federal  Government,  for  its  failure  to  pass  the  bill,  introduced 
in  the  last  Congress,  to  compel  the  publication  of  the  names  of 
contributors  and  the  amounts  contributed  toward  campaign  funds, 
and  point  to  the  evidence  of  the  insincerity  of  Republican  leaders 
when  they  sought,  by  an  absolutely  irrelevant  and  impossible 
amendment,  to  defeat  the  passage  of  the  bill.  As  a  further  evi- 
dence of  their  intention  to  conduct  their  campaign  in  the  coming 
contest  with  vast  sums  of  money  wrested  from  favor-seeking  cor- 
porations, we  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  recent  Republican 
national  convention  at  Chicago  refused,  when  the  issue  was  present- 
ed to  it,  to  declare  against  such  practices. 

We  pledge  the  Democratic  party  to  the  enactment  of  a  law  pro- 
hibiting any  corporation  from  contributing  to  a  campaign  fund 
and  any  individual  from  contributing  any  amount  above  a  rea- 
sonable maximum,  and  providing  for  the  publication,  before  elec- 
tion, of  all  such  contributions,  above  a  reasonable  maximum. 

THE    RIGHTS    OF    THE    STATES 

Believing,  with  Jefferson,  in  "the  support  of  the  State  govern- 
ments in  all  their  rights  as  the  most  competent  administrations  for 
our  domestic  concerns,  and  the  surest  bulwarks  against  anti- 
Republican  tendencies,"  and  in  "the  preservation  of  the  general 
Government  in  its  whole  constitutional  vigor,  as  the  sheet-anchor 
of  our  peace  at  home  and  safety  abroad,"  we  are  opposed  to  the 
centralization  implied  in  the  suggestion,  now  frequently  made, 
that  the  powers  of  the  general  Government  should  be  extended  by 
judicial  construction.  There  is  no  twilight  zone  between  the  Na- 
tion and  the  State  in  which  exploiting  interests  can  take  refuge  from 
both;  and  it  is  as  necessary  that  the  Federal  Government  shall 
exercise  the  powers  delegated  to  it,  that  it  is  that  the  State  govern- 
ments shall  use  the  authority  reserved  to  them;  but  we  insist  that 
Federal  remedies  for  the  regulation  of  interstate  commerce  and  for 
the  prevention  of  private  monopoly  shall  be  added  to,  not  sub- 
stituted for,  State  remedies. 

POPULAR  ELECTION  OF  SENATORS 

We  favor  the  election  of  United  States  Senators  by  direct  vote 
of  the  people,  and  regard  this  reform  as  the  gateway  to  other 
national  reforms. 

TARIFF 

We  welcome  the  belated  promise  of  tariff  reform,  now  offered 
by  the  Republican  party,  as  a  tardy  recognition  of  the  righteousness 

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AND  HOW  WE   MAKE  THEM 

of  the  Democratic  position  on  this  question;  but  the  people  cannot 
safely  intrust  the  execution  of  this  important  work  to  a  party 
which  is  so  deeply  obligated  to  the  highly  protected  interests  as  is 
the  Republican  party.  We  call  attention  to  the  significant  fact 
that  the  promised  relief  is  postponed  until  after  the  coming  election 
— an  election  to  succeed  in  which  the  Republican  party  must  have 
that  same  support  from  the  beneficiaries  of  the  high  protective 
tariff  as  it  has  always  heretofore  received  from  them;  and  to  the 
further  fact  that  during  years  of  uninterrupted  power  no  action 
whatever  has  been  taken  by  the  Republican  Congress  as  to  correct 
the  admittedly  existing  tariff  iniquities. 

\Ve  favor  immediate  revision  of  the  tariff  by  the  reduction  of 
import  duties.  Articles  entering  into  competition  with  trust- 
controlled  products  should  be  placed  upon  the  free  list;  material 
reductions  should  be  made  in  the  tariff  upon  the  necessaries  of  life, 
especially  upon  articles  competing  with  such  American  manu- 
factures as  are  sold  abroad  more  cheaply  than  at  home;  and  gradual 
reductions  should  be  made  in  such  other  schedules  as  may  be 
necessary  to  restore  the  tariff  to  a  revenue  basis. 

Existing  duties  have  given  the  manufacturers  of  paper  a  shelter 
behind  which  they  have  organized  combinations  to  raise  the  price 
of  pulp  and  of  paper,  thus  imposing  a  tax  upon  the  spread  of  knowl- 
edge. We  demand  the  immediate  repeal  of  the  tariff  on  wood 
pulp,  print  paper,  lumber,  timber,  and  logs,  and  that  those  articles 
be  placed  upon  the  free  list. 

INCOME   TAX 

We  favor  an  income  tax  as  part  of  our  revenue  system,  and  we 
urge  the  submission  of  a  constitutional  amendment  specifically 
authorizing  Congress  to  levy  and  collect  a  tax  upon  individual  and 
corporate  incomes,  to  the  end  that  wealth  may  bear  its  propor- 
tionate share  of  the  burdens  of  the  Federal  Government. 

TRUSTS 

A  private  monopoly  is  indefensible  and  intolerable.  We  there- 
fore favor  the  vigorous  enforcement  of  the  criminal  law  against 
guilty  trust  magnates  and  officials,  and  demand  the  enactment  of 
such  additional  legislation  as  may  be  necessary  to  make  it  im- 
possible for  a  private  monopoly  to  exist  in  the  United  States. 
Among  the  additional  remedies  we  specify  three:  First,  a  law  pre- 
venting a  duplication  of  directors  among  competing  corporations; 
second,  a  license  system  which  will,  without  abridging  the  right 
of  each  State  to  create  corporations,  or  its  right  to  regulate  as  it 
will  foreign  corporations  doing  business  within  its  limits,  make  it 
necessary  for  a  manufacturing  or  trading  corporation  engaged  in 
interstate  commerce  to  take  out  a  Federal  license  before  it  shall  be 
permitted  to  control  as  much  as  25  per  cent,  of  the  product  in 
which  it  deals,  the  license  to  protect  the  public  from  watered  stock 
and  to  prohibit  the  control  by  such  corporation  of  more  than  50 
per  cent,  of  the  total  amount  of  any  product  consumed  in  the 
United  States;  and,  third,  a  law  compelling  such  licensed  corpora- 
tions to  sell  to  all  purchasers  in  all  parts  of  the  country  on  the  same 
terms,  after  making  the  allowance  for  the  cost  of  transportation. 

507 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 


RAILROAD    LEGISLATION 

We  assert  the  right  of  Congress  to  exercise  complete  control 
over  interstate  commerce,  and  the  right  of  each  State  to  exercise 
like  control  over  commerce  within  its  borders. 

We  demand  such  enlargement  of  the  powers  of  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission  as  may  be  necessary  to  enable  it  to  compel 
railroads  to  perform  their  duties  as  common  carriers  and  prevent 
discrimination  and  extortion. 

We  favor  the  efficient  supervision  and  rate  regulation  of  railroads 
engaged  in  interstate  commerce.  To  this  end  we  recommend  the 
valuation  of  railroads  by  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission, 
such  valuation  to  take  into  consideration  the  physical  value  of  the 
property,  the  original  cost,  the  cost  of  production,  and  any  elements 
of  value  that  will  render  the  valuation  fair  and  just. 

We  favor  such  legislation  as  will  prohibit  the  railroads  from 
engaging  in  business  which  brings  them  into  competition  with  their 
shippers;  also  legislation  preventing  the  overissue  of  stocks  and 
bonds  by  interstate  railroads,  and  legislation  which  will  assure  such 
reduction  in  transportation  rates  as  conditions  will  permit,  care 
being  taken  to  avoid  reduction  that  would  compel  a  reduction  of 
wages,  prevent  adequate  service,  or  do  injustice  to  legitimate  in- 
vestments. 

We  heartily  approve  the  laws  prohibiting  the  pass  and  the  rebate, 
and  we  favor  any  further  necessary  legislation  to  restrain,  correct, 
and  prevent  such  abuses. 

We  favor  such  legislation  as  will  increase  the  power  of  the  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commission,  giving  to  it  the  initiative  with  ref- 
erence to  rates  and  transportation  charges  put  into  effect  by  the 
railroad  companies,  and  permitting  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission on  its  own  initiative  to  declare  a  rate  illegal  and  as  being 
more  than  should  be  charged  for  such  service.  The  present  law 
relating  thereto  is  inadequate  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  the  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commission  is  without  power  to  fix  or  investigate 
a  rate  until  complaint  has  been  made  to  it  by  the  shipper. 

We  further  declare  in  favor  of  a  law  that  all  agreements  of  traffic 
or  other  associations  of  railway  agents  affecting  interstate  rates, 
service,  or  classification  shall  be  unlawful,  unless  filed  with  and 
approved  by  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission. 

We  favor  the  enactment  of  a  law  giving  to  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission  the  power  to  inspect  proposed  railroad  tariff 
rates  or  schedules  before  they  shall  take  effect,  and,  if  they  be 
found  to  be  unreasonable,  to  initiate  an  adjustment  thereof. 

TELEGRAPH  AND  TELEPHONE 

We  pledge  the  Democratic  party  to  the  enactment  of  a  law  to 
regulate,  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission, the  rates  and  services  of  telegraph  and  telephone  com- 
panies engaged  in  the  transmission  of  messages  between  the  States. 

BANKING 

The  panic  of  1907,  coming  without  any  legitimate  excuse,  when 
the  Republican  party  had  for  a  decade  been  in  complete  control  of 

508 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

the  Federal  Government,  furnishes  additional  proof  that  it  is  either 
unwilling  or  incompetent  to  protect  the  interests  of  the  general 
public.  It  has  so  linked  the  country  to  Wall  Street  that  the  sins 
of  the  speculators  are  visited  upon  the  whole  people.  While  re- 
fusing to  rescue  the  wealth-producers  from  spoliation  at  the  hands 
of  the  stock  gamblers  and  speculators  in  farm  products,  it  has  de- 
posited Treasury  funds,  without  interest  and  without  competition, 
in  favorite  banks.  It  has  used  an  emergency  for  which  it  is  largely 
responsible  to  force  through  Congress  a  bill  changing  the  basis  of 
bank  currency  and  inviting  market  manipulation,  and  has  failed 
to  give  to  the  15,000,000  depositors  of  the  country  protection  in 
their  savings. 

We  believe  that  in  so  far  as  the  needs  of  commerce  require  an 
emergency  currency,  such  currency  should  be  issued  and  con- 
trolled by  the  Federal  Government,  and  loaned  on  adequate  security 
to  national  and  State  banks.  We  pledge  ourselves  to  legislation 
under  which  the  national  banks  shall  be  required  to  establish  a 
guaranty  fund  for  the  prompt  payment  of  the  depositors  of  any 
insolvent  national  bank,  under  an  equitable  system  which  should 
be  available  to  all  State  banking  institutions  wishing  to  use  it. 

We  favor  a  postal  savings  bank  if  the  guaranteed  bank  cannot 
be  secured,  and  believe  that  it  should  be  so  constituted  as  to  keep 
the  deposited  money  in  the  communities  where  the  depositors  live. 
But  we  condemn  the  policy  of  the  Republican  party  in  proposing 
postal  savings  banks  under  a  plan  of  conduct  by  which  they  will 
aggregate  the  deposits  of  the  rural  communities  and  deposit  the 
same  while  under  Government  charge  in  the  banks  of  Wall  Street, 
thus  depleting  the  circulating  medium  of  the  producing  regions  and 
unjustly  favoring  the  speculative  markets. 

LABOR    AND  v  INJUNCTIONS 

The  courts  of  justice  are  the  bulwark  of  our  liberties,  and  we 
yield  to  none  in  our  purpose  to  maintain  their  dignity.  Our  party 
has  given  to  the  bench  a  long  line  of  distinguished  justices,  who 
have  added  to  the  respect  and  confidence  in  which  this  depart- 
ment must  be  jealously  maintained.  We  resent  the  attempt  of  the 
Republican  party  to  raise  a  false  issue  respecting  the  judiciary. 
It  is  an  unjust  reflection  upon  a  great  body  of  our  citizens  to  assume 
that  they  lack  respect  for  the  courts. 

It  is  the  function  of  the  courts  to  interpret  the  laws  which  the 
people  create,  and  if  the  laws  appear  to  work  economic,  social,  or 
political  injustice,  it  is  our  duty  to  change  them.  The  only  basis 
upon  which  the  integrity  of  our  courts  can  stand  is  that  of  un- 
swerving justice  and  protection  of  life,  personal  liberty,  and  prop- 
erty. If  judicial  processes  may  be  abused,  we  should  guard 
them  against  abuse. 

Experience  has  proven  the  necessity  of  a  modification  of  the 
present  law  relating  to  injunctions,  and  we  reiterate  the  pledge  of 
our  national  platform  of  1896  and  1904  in  favor  of  the  measure 
which  passed  the  United  States  Senate  in  1896,  but  which  a  Re- 
publican Congress  has  ever  since  refused  to  enact,  relating  to  con- 
tempts in  Federal  courts  and  providing  for  trial  by  jury  in  cases  of 
indirect  contempt. 

509 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

Questions  of  judicial  practice  have  arisen,  especially  in  con- 
nection with  industrial  disputes.  We  believe  that  the  parties  to 
all  judicial  proceedings  should  be  treated  with  rigid  impartiality, 
and  that  injunctions  should  not  be  issued  in  any  cases  in  which  in- 
junctions would  not  issue  if  no  industrial  dispute  were  involved. 

The  expanding  organization  of  industry  makes  it  essential  that 
there  should  be  no  abridgment  of  the  right  of  wage-earners  and 
producers  to  organize  for  the  protection  of  wages  and  the  im- 
provement of  labor  conditions,  to  the  end  that  such  labor  or- 
ganizations and  their  members  should  not  be  regarded  as  illegal 
combinations  in  restraint  of  trade. 

We  favor  the  eight-hour  day  on  all  Government  work. 

We  pledge  the  Democratic  party  to  the  enactment  of  a  law  by 
Congress,  as  far  as  the  Federal  jurisdiction  extends,  for  a  general 
employers'  liability  act  covering  injury  to  body  or  loss  of  life  or 
property. 

We  pledge  the  Democratic  party  to  the  enactment  of  a  law  creat- 
ing a  department  of  labor  represented  separately  in  the  President's 
Cabinet,  in  which  department  shall  be  included  the  subject  of 
mines  and  mining. 

THE    PHILIPPINES 

We  condemn  the  experiment  in  imperialism  as  an  inexcusable 
blunder  which  has  involved  us  in  enormous  expenses,  brought  us 
weakness  instead  of  strength,  and  laid  our  nation  open  to  the 
charge  of  abandoning  a  fundamental  doctrine  of  self-government. 
We  favor  an  immediate  declaration  of  the  nation's  purpose  to 
recognize  the  independence  of  the  Philippine  Islands  as  soon  as  a 
stable  government  can  be  established,  such  independence  to  be 
guaranteed  by  us  as  we  guarantee  the  independence  of  Cuba,  until 
the  neutralization  of  the  islands  can  be  secured  by  treaty  with 
other  powers.  In  recognizing  the  independence  of  the  Philippines, 
our  Government  should  retain  such  land  as  may  be  necessary  for 
coaling  stations  and  naval  bases. 

WATERWAYS 

Water  furnishes  the  cheaper  means  of  transportation,  and  the 
national  Government,  having  the  control  of  navigable  waters, 
should  improve  them  to  their  fullest  capacity.  We  earnestly  favor 
the  immediate  adoption  of  a  liberal  and  comprehensive  plan  for 
improving  every  watercourse  in  the  Union  which  is  justified  by  the 
needs  of  commerce;  and,  to  secure  that  end,  we  favor,  when  prac- 
ticable, the  connection  of  the  Great  Lakes  with  the  navigable 
rivers  and  with  the  Gulf  through  the  Mississippi  River,  and  the 
navigable  rivers  with  each  other,  by  artificial  canals,  with  a  view 
of  perfecting  a  system  of  inland  waterways  to  be  navigated  by 
vessels  of  standard  draft. 

We  favor  the  co-ordination  of  the  various  services  of  the  Govern- 
ment connected  with  waterways  in  one  service,  for  the  purpose  of 
aiding  in  the  completion  of  such  a  system  of  inland  waterways; 
and  we  favor  the  creation  of  a  fund  ample  for  continuous  work, 
which  shall  be  conducted  under  the  direction  of  a  commission  of 
experts  to  be  authorized  by  law. 

510 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


MERCHANT    MARINE 

We  believe  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  American  merchant  marine 
without  new  or  additional  burdens  upon  the  people  and  without 
bounties  from  the  public  treasury. 

THE    NAVY 

The  constitutional  provision  that  a  navy  shall  be  provided  and 
maintained  means  an  adequate  navy,  and  we  believe  that  the  in- 
terests of  this  country  would  be  best  served  by  having  a  navy 
sufficient  to  defend  the  coasts  of  this  country  and  protect  American 
citizens  wherever  their  rights  may  be  in  jeopardy. 

PROTECTION    OF    AMERICAN    CITIZENS 

We  pledge  ourselves  to  insist  upon  the  just  and  lawful  protection 
of  our  citizens  at  home  and  abroad,  and  to  use  all  proper  methods  to 
secure  for  them,  whether  native  born  or  naturalized,  and  without 
distinction  of  race  or  creed,  the  equal  protection  of  the  law  and 
enjoyment  of  all  rights  and  privileges  open  to  them  under  our 
treaties;  and  if,  under  existing  treaties,  the  right  of  travel  and 
sojourn  is  denied  to  American  citizens,  or  recognition  is  withheld 
from  American  passports  by  any  countries  on  the  ground  of  race 
or  creed,  we  favor  prompt  negotiations  with  the  governments  of 
such  countries  to  secure  the  removal  of  these  unjust  discriminations. 

We  demand  that  all  over  the  world  a  duly  authenticated  passport 
issued  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  an  American  citizen 
shall  be' proof  of  the  fact  that  he  is  an  American  citizen  and  shall 
entitle  him  to  the  treatment  due  him  as  such. 

FOREIGN    PATENTS 

We  believe  that  where  an  American  citizen  holding  a  patent  in  a 
foreign  country  is  compelled  to  manufacture  under  his  patent  with- 
in a  certain  time,  similar  restrictions  should  be  applied  in  this 
country  to  the  citizens  or  subjects  of  such  a  country. 

CIVIL  SERVICE 

The  law  pertaining  to  the  civil  service  should  be  honestly  and 
rigidly  enforced  to  the  end  that  merit  and  ability  shall  be  standard 
of  appointment  and  promotion,  rather  than  services  rendered  to  a 
political  party. 

PENSIONS 

We  favor  generous  pension  policy,  both  as  a  matter  of  justice  to 
the  surviving  veterans  and  their  dependents,  and  because  it  tends 
to  relieve  the  country  of  the  necessity  of  maintaining  a  large 
standing  army. 

HEALTH    BUREAU 

We  advocate  the  organization  of  all  existing  national  public 
health  agencies  into  a  national  bureau  of  public  health,  with  such 
power  over  sanitary  conditions  connected  with  factories,  mines, 

34  511 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

tenements,  child  labor,  and  such  other  conditions  connected  within 
jurisdiction  of  Federal  Government  and  do  not  interfere  with 
the  power  of  the  States  controlling  public  health  agencies. 

AGRICULTURAL    AND    MECHANICAL    EDUCATION 

The  Democratic  party  favors  the  extension  of  agricultural, 
mechanical,  and  industrial  education.  We  therefore  favor  the 
establishment  of  district  agricultural  experiment  stations  and 
secondary  agricultural  and  mechanical  colleges  in  the  several 
States. 

OKLAHOMA 

We  welcome  Oklahoma  to  the  sisterhood  of  States,  and  heartily 
congratulate  her  upon  the  auspicious  beginning  of  a  great  career. 

ARIZONA    AND    NEW    MEXICO 

The  National  Democratic  party  has  for  the  last  sixteen  years 
labored  for  the  admission  of  Arizona  and  New  Mexico  as  separate 
States  of  the  Union,  and  recognizing  that  each  possesses  every 
qualification  successfully  to  maintain  separate  State  governments, 
we  favor  the  immediate  admission  of  these  Territories  as  separate 
States. 

ALASKA    AND    PORTO    RICO 

We  demand  for  the  people  of  Alaska  and  Porto  Rico  the  full  en- 
joyment of  the  rights  and  privileges  of  a  Territorial  form  of  govern- 
ment, and  that  the  officials  appointed  to  administer  the  govern- 
ment of  all  our  Territories  and  the  District  of  Columbia  should  be 
thoroughly  qualified  by  previous  bona  fide  residence. 

HAWAII 

We  favor  the  application  of  the  principles  of  the  land  laws  of 
the  United  States  to  our  newly  acquired  Territory,  Hawaii,  to  the 
end  that  the  public  lands  of  that  Territory  may  be  held  and  utilized 
for  the  benefit  of  bona  fide  homesteaders. 

POST-ROADS 

We  favor  Federal  aid  to  State  and  local  authorities  in  the  con- 
struction and  maintenance  of  post-roads. 

NATURAL    RESOURCES 

We  repeat  the  demand  for  internal  development  and  for  the 
conservation  of  our  natural  resources  contained  in  previous  plat- 
forms, the  enforcement  of  which  Mr.  Roosevelt  has  vainly  sought 
from  a  reluctant  party;  and  to  that  end  we  insist  upon  the  preser- 
vation, protection,  and  replacement  of  needed  forests,  the  preser- 
vation of  the  public  domain  for  home-seekers,  the  protection  of  the 
national  resources  in  timber,  coal,  iron,  and  oil  against  monopolistic 
control,  the  development  of  our  waterways  for  navigation  and  every 
other  useful  purpose,  including  the  irrigation  of  arid  lands,  the 

512 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

reclamation  of  swamp-lands,  the  clarification  of  streams,  the  devel- 
opment of  water-power  and  the  preservation  of  electric-power  gen- 
erated by  this  natural  force,  from  the  control  of  monopoly;  and  to 
such  end  we  urge  the  exercise  of  all  powers,  national,  State,  and 
municipal,  both  separately  and  in  co-operation. 

We  insist  upon  a  policy  of  administration  of  our  forest  reserves 
which  shall  relieve  it  of  the  abuses  which  have  arisen  thereunder, 
and  which  shall,  as  far  as  practicable,  conform  to  the  police  regula- 
tions of  the  several  States  wherein  the  reserves  are  located,  which 
shall  enable  homesteaders  as  of  right  to  occupy  and  acquire  title 
to  all  portions  thereof  which  are  especially  adapted  to  agriculture, 
and  which  shall  furnish  a  system  of  timber  sales  available  as  well 
to  the  private  citizen  as  to  the  large  manufacturer  and  consumer. 

GRAZING    LANDS 

The  establishment  of  rules  and  regulations,  if  any  such  are 
necessary,  in  relation  to  free  grazing  upon  the  public,  lands  outside 
of  forests  or  other  reservations,  until  the  same  shall  eventually  be 
disposed  of,  should  be  left  to  the  people  of  the  States,  respectively, 
in  which  such  lands  may  be  situated. 

PAN-AMERICAN    RELATIONS 

The  Democratic  party  recognizes  the  importance  and  advantage 
of  developing  closer  ties  of  Pan-American  friendship  and  commerce 
between  the  United  States  and  her  sister  relations  of  Latin  America, 
and  favors  the  taking  of  such  steps,  consistent  with  Democratic 
policies,  for  better  acquaintance,  greater  mutual  confidence,  and 
larger  exchange  of  trade  as  will  bring  lasting  benefit  not  only  to  the 
United  States,  but  to  this  group  of  American  Republics,  having 
constitutions,  forms  of  government,  ambitions,  and  interests  akin 
to  our  own. 

PANAMA    CANAL 

We  believe  that  the  Panama  Canal  will  prove  of  great  value  to 
our  country,  and  favor  its  speedy  completion. 

ASIATIC    IMMIGRATION 

We  favor  full  protection,  by  both  national  and  State  govern- 
ments within  their  respective  spheres,  of  all  foreigners  residing  in 
the  United  States  under  treaty,  but  we  are  opposed  to  the  admission 
of  Asiatic  immigrants  who  cannot  be  amalgamated  with  our 
population,  or  whose  presence  among  us  would  raise  a  race  issue 
and  involve  us  in  diplomatic  controversies  with  Oriental  powers 

CONCLUSION 

The  Democratic  party  stands  for  Democracy;  the  Republican 
party  has  drawn  to  itself  all  that  is  aristocratic  and  plutocratic. 
The  Democratic  party  is  the  champion  of  equal  rights  and  oppor- 
tunities to  all;  the  Republican  party  is  the  party  of  privilege  and 
private  monopoly.  The  Democratic  party  listens  to  the  voice  of 

513 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

the  whole  people  and  gauges  progress  by  the  prosperity  and  ad- 
vancement of  the  average  man;  the  Republican  party  is  subservient 
to  the  comparatively  few  who  are  the  beneficiaries  of  govern- 
mental favoritism.  We  invite  the  co-operation  of  all,  regardless  of 
previous  political  affiliation  or  past  differences,  who  desire  to  pre- 
serve a  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people, 
and  who  favor  such  an  administration  of  the  Government  as  will 
insure,  as  far  as  human  wisdom  can,  that  each  citizen  shall  draw 
from  society  a  reward  commensurate  with  his  contribution  to  the 
welfare  of  society. 

Thus  the  national  battle  of  1908  opened  with  seven 
national  tickets  in  the  field,  as  follows: 

REPUBLICAN 

President  Vice- President 

William  H.  Taft,  of  Ohio  James  S.  Sherman,  of  New  York 

DEMOCRATIC 
William  J.  Bryan,  of  Nebraska       John  W.  Kern,  of  Indiana 

SOCIALIST 
Eugene  V.  Debs,  of  Indiana  Benjamin  Hanford,  of  New  York 

PROHIBITION 
Eugene  W.  Chafin,  of  Illinois          Aaron  S.  Watkins,  of  Ohio 

POPULIST 
Thomas  E.  Watson,  of  Georgia       Samuel  Williams,  of  Indiana 

INDEPENDENCE 
Thomas  Hisgen,  of  Massachusetts   John  Temple  Graves,  of  Georgia 

SOCIALIST  LABOR 

August  Gillhaus,  of  New  York       Donald  L.  Munro,  of  Virginia 

The  national  contest  of  1908  was  unusually  animated. 
President  Roosevelt  injected  himself  into  the  fight  very 
aggressively;  Bryan,  who  is  one  of  our  greatest  campaigners, 
was  on  the  stump  from  start  to  finish;  and  Taft  steadily 
strengthened  himself  by  a  number  of  public  addresses,  all 
of  which  impressed  the  country  with  his  clear-headed  com- 
mon-sense and  honest  purposes. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  struggle  the  chances  seemed  to 
be  in  favor  of  Bryan's  election.  The  great  depression  in 
industry,  with  hundreds  of  thousands  of  working-men  out 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

of  employment,  greatly  strengthened  the  socialistic  ideas 
which  were  pressed  by  all  the  candidates,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  Taft  and  Chapin.  Had  the  election  been  held  in 
August  instead  of  November,  it  is  quite  possible  that 
Bryan  would  have  been  elected.  The  great  business  in- 
terests of  the  country  quickened  into  political  activity 
in  1908,  as  they  did  in  1872  and  again  in  1896.  Greeley 
would  have  been  elected  President  over  Grant  at  any  time 
before  August  i,  1872 ;  Bryan  would  have  been  elected  over 
McKinley  in  midsummer  of  1896,  but  as  the  election  ap- 
proached the  business  and  industrial  interests  of  the 
country  were  quickened  into  action  and  ultimately  con- 
trolled the  conflict.  Senator  Hanna  informed  me  that  in 
1896,  three  months  before  the  Presidential  election,  he 
had  made  a  careful  canvass  of  Ohio,  and  McKinley  would 
then  have  been  beaten  by  over  30,000,  and  at  the  opening 
of  the  campaign  of  1908  there  was  little  doubt  that  Bryan 
would  have  carried  Ohio  over  Taft.  When  the  business 
interests  of  the  country,  independent  of  partisan  partiality 
or  prejudice,  become  aroused  in  a  national  campaign  they 
come  to  stay  and  they  are  seldom  defeated. 

There  never  was  a  national  contest  in  which  partisan 
obligations  were  worn  so  lightly  by  the  people  of  the  entire 
country  as  in  1908.  That  is  shown  by  the  extraordinary 
majority  given  for  Taft  in  a  number  of  States,  where  a  vast 
number  of  business  Democrats  simply  deserted  their  party 
and  voted  for  the  Republican  candidate.  It  was  shown 
also  in  the  marvellously  independent  votings  of  different 
States.  Ohio,  Taft's  own  State,  gave  him  69,591  majority, 
and  elected  Harmon,  a  member  of  Cleveland's  Cabinet, 
Governor  by  nearly  20,000.  Minnesota  gave  Taft  86,481, 
and  elected  a  Democratic  Governor  by  nearly  30,000 
majority.  Indiana  gave  Taft  10,731  majority,  and  elected 
a  Democratic  Governor  by  over  14,000.  Montana  gave 
her  electoral  vote  to  Taft  by  3,007  majority,  and  elected  a 
Democratic  Governor  by  nearly  3,000.  Taft's  large 
popular  majority  was  not  given  to  him  distinctly  by  Re- 
publicans, although  on  his  strict  party  vote  he  would 
doubtless  have  been  elected,  but  never  before  in  the  his- 
tory of  our  Presidential  contests  have  the  people  of  the 
country  voted  so  independently  as  they  did  in  the  struggle 
of  1908,  and  that  political  independence  was  greatly  in- 
spired by  the  general  apprehension  that  the  progress  of 

515 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

socialistic  sentiment,  that  is  in  this  country  largely  the 
parent  of  anarchy,  was  being  strengthened  by  the  candi- 
dates for  President,  with  the  exception  of  Taft  and  Chafin. 
That  gave  Taft  his  popular  plurality  of  about  a  million  and 
a  quarter  over  Bryan. 

The  following  table  presents  the  popular  and  electoral 
votes  for  President  in  1908: 


STATES  AND 
TERRITORIES 

POPULAR  VOTE 

ELECTORAL 
VOTE 

Rep.  Dem. 

Rep. 

Dem. 

Pro. 

Soc. 

S.  L. 

Pop.       Ind. 

Alabama  

26,283 
56,679 
214,398 
123,732 
112,815 
25,007 
10,654 
41,692 
52,621 
629,932 
348,993 
275,210 

74,374 
87,015 
127,492 
126,772 
68,255 
22,072 
31,104 
72,35o 
36,162 
450,810 
338,262 
200,771 

665 
1,194 
11,770 
5,538 
2,380 
677 
553 
1,059 
1,968 
29,364 
18,045 
9.837 

i,399 
5.842 
28,659 
7,96o 
S.iio 
240 
3,747 
584 
6,400 
34,711 
13.476 
8,287 

608 

i,  680 
643 

1,568 
1,026 

1,946 
16,965 

~633 
1,193 
261 

495 
289 

4,278 

7*8 
28 
1,356 
77 
119 
7,724 
514 
404 

10 

7 
3 

3 
27 
15 
13 

II 
9 

5 

5 

13 

13 
9 

6 

10 

8 
3 

12 

7 
9 

12 

18 

12 

California  
Colorado  

Connecticut  
Delaware  

Florida  
Georgia  
Idaho  

Indiana  

Kansas  
Kentucky  

235,7n 
8,958 
66,987 
116,513 
265,966 
333,313 
195,876 
4,363 
347,203 
32,333 
126,997 
10,775 
53,144 
265,326 
870,070 
114,887 
57.680 
572,312 
110,558 
62,530 
745,779 
43,942 
3,963 
67,466 
118,324 
65,666 
61,015 
39,558 
52,573 
106,062 
137,869 
247,747 
20,846 

244,092 
63,568 
35,403 
115,908 
155.543 
174,313 
109,395 
58,286 
346  574 
29,326 
131.099 

11,212 

33,655 
182,567 
667,468 
136,928 
32,885 
502,721 
122,406 
38,049 
448,785 
24,706 
62,288 
40,266 
I35,6o8 
217,302 
42,601 
1  1,500 
82,946 
58,691 
111,418 
166,632 
14,918 

5.887 

1,487 
3.302 
4.379 
16,705 
10,229 

4,284 
827 
5,179 

90S 
4,934 
22,667 

1,553 
1  1,402 

2,682 
36,694 
1,016 

4,039 
300 
1,634 

802 
i,  in 
4,700 
5,139 
11,564 
66 

4,185 
2,538 
1,758 
2,323 
10,781 
11,527 
14,094 
978 
I5,43i 
5,855 
3,524 
2,103 
1,299 
10,253 
38,45i 
345 
2,421 
33,795 
21,779 
7.339 
33,913 
1,365 

101 

2,846 
1,870 
7,870 
4,895 

255 
14,177 
3,679 
28,164 
L7I5 

404 

1,018 
i,  086 

868 

1,196 
3.877 

721 

1,222 
183 

I76 
25 
314 

333 

1,276 
1,165 

162 
434 

1,081 
944 

105 
16 

200 

79 

700 
485 
19,239 
734 
402 

402 
443 

486 
584 
2,922 
35.817 

43 
439 
244 
289 

i,  "57 
1,105 

11 

332 

"I 

804 
5i 
249 
46 

64 

6 

2 

16 
14 
ii 

18 
3 

4 

12 

39 

4 
23 

4 
34 
4 

4 

3 

4 

5 
7 
13 
3 

Maine  

Maryland  
Massachusetts  .  .  . 
Michigan  

Mississippi  

Montana  

Nevada  
New  Hampshire  .  . 
New  Jersey  
New  York  
North  Carolina  .  .  . 
North  Dakota  .  .  . 
Ohio  
Oklahoma  
Oregon  
Pennsylvania.  .  .  . 
Rhode  Island.  ... 
South  Carolina...  . 
South  Dakota  .  .  . 
Tennessee  
Texas  
Utah  
Vermont  

Virginia          .    . 

Washington  
West  Virginia  .... 
Wisconsin  
Wyoming  
Totals  
Pluralities  

7,677,544 
1,271,837 

6,405,  707 

251,660 

420,464 

I4,O2I 

29,108 

83,6281 

321 

162 

These  figures  are  approximately  right.  In  some  States  there 
was  a  discrimination  against  one  or  more  electors,  so  that  a  table 
made  up  from  the  highest  vote  given  to  any  one  elector  in  each 
State  would  make  some  slight  changes. 

516 


VARIATIONS   IN   THE    POLITICAL   CON- 
TROL  OF   CONGRESS 

THE  records  of  our  earlier  Congresses  are  quite  obscure 
as  to  the  political  complexion  of  the  members  of  the  Senate 
and  House  of  those  days,  and  it  is  impossible  to  attain 
precise  accuracy  in  classifying  our  national  law-makers 
until  we  get  down  to  the  period  of  popular  political  manuals, 
beginning  a  little  more  than  sixty  years  ago.  I  have  pre- 
pared tables  of  the  political  complexion  of  both  Senate  and 
House,  beginning  with  the  first  Congress;  and  while  it 
cannot  be  assumed  that  it  is  exact  in  presenting  the  political 
attitude  of  all  the  Senators  and  Representatives,  it  is  as 
nearly  accurate  as  can  now  be  ascertained.  There  were 
independent  men  in  those  days  as  there  are  now,  and  when 
an  entire  Senate  and  an  entire  House  has  to  be  classified 
between  two  great  parties,  for  want  of  more  minute  informa- 
tion it  cannot  be  regarded  as  entirely  correct ;  but  the  follow- 
ing tables  will  enable  the  student  of  our  political  history  to 
understand  the  controlling  power  of  every  Senate  and  House 
since  the  organization  of  the  government,  even  though  there 
may  be  inaccuracies  as  to  some  minor  details : 

First  Congress — 1789-91. 

SENATE  HOUSE 

Federalists 26  I    Federalists 53 

Republicans 0  |  Republicans 12 

Second  Congress — 1791-3. 

Federalists 17  I   Federalists 55 

Republicans 13  |  Republicans 14 

Third  Congress — 1793-5. 

Federalists 18  I   Federalists 51 

Republicans 12  |  Republicans 54 

Fourth  Congress — 1795-7. 

Federalists 19  I   Federalists 46 

Republicans 13  J  Republicans 59 

5*7 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

SENATE  HOUSE 

Fifth  Congress — 1797-9. 

Federalists 21  I    Federalists 51 

Republicans 11  |  Republicans 54 

Sixth  Congress — 1799-1801. 

Federalists 19  I  Federalists 57 

Republicans 13  |   Republicans 48 

Seventh  Congress — 1801-3. 

Federalists 13  I  Federalists 34 

Republicans 19  |  Republicans 71 

Eighth  Congress— 1803-5. 

Federalists 10  I  Federalists 38 

Republicans 24  |  Republicans 103 

Ninth  Congress — 1805-7. 

Federalists 71  Federalists 29 

Republicans 27  |  Republicans 112 

Tenth  Congress — 1807-9. 

Federalists 71  Federalists 31 

Republicans 27  |  Republicans 110 

Eleventh  Congress — 1809-11. 


Federalists 10 

Republicans 24 


Federalists 46 

Republicans 95 


Twelfth  Congress — 1811-13. 

Federalists 61  Federalists 36 

Republicans 30  |  Republicans 105 

Thirteenth  Congress — 1813-15. 

Federalists 91  Federalists 67 

Republicans 27  |  Republicans 115 

Fourteenth  Congress — 1815-17. 

Federalists 12  I  Federalists 61 

Republicans 26  |  Republicans 122 

Fifteenth  Congress — 1817-19. 

Federalists 10  I  Federalists 57 

Republicans 34  |  Republicans 128 

Sixteenth  Congress — 1819-21. 

Federalists 10  I  Federalists 42 

Republicans 36  |  Republicans 145 

Seventeenth  Congress — 1821-23. 

Federalists 71  Federalists 58 

Republicans 41  |  Republicans 129 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

SENATE  HOUSE 

Eighteenth  Congress— 1823-25. 

Federalists 81  Federalists 73 

Republicans 40  |  Republicans 141 

Nineteenth  Congress — 1825-27. 

Federalists 10  I  Federalists 79 

Republicans 38  |  Republicans 134 

Twentieth  Congress — 1827-29.  * 

Federalists 11  I  Federalists 85 

Republicans 37  |  Republicans 128 

Twenty-first  Congress — 1829-31.  t 

Democrats 38  I  Democrats 142 

Whigs 10  I  Whigs 71 

Twenty-second  Congress — 1831-33. 

Democrats 35  I  Democrats 130 

Whigs 13  |  Whigs 83 

Twenty-third  Congress — 1833-35. 

Democrats 30  j  Democrats 147 

Whigs 18  I  Whigs 93 

Twenty-fourth  Congress — 1835-37. 

Democrats 33  I  Democrats 144 

Whigs 19  I  Whigs 98 

Twenty-fifth  Congress — 1837-39. 


Democrats 29 

Whigs 18 

Independents 5 


Democrats 108 

Whigs 118 

Independents 13 


Twenty-sixth  Congress — 1839-41. 


Democrats 22 

Whigs 28 

Independents 2 


Democrats 103 

Whigs 132 

Independents 6 


Twenty-seventh  Congress — 1841-43. 

Whigs 29  I  Whigs 144 

Democrats 23  |  Democrats 98 

*  In  the  contest  of  1824  the  Republicans  were  divided  into  National 
Republicans  who  supported  Adams,  Union  Republicans  who  sup- 
ported Clay,  regular  Republicans  who  supported  Crawford,  and 
Democratic  Republicans  who  supported  Jackson.  With  the  success 
of  Jackson  in  1828.  came  the  complete  organization  of  the  Democratic 
party  that  was  built  on  the  wreck  of  the  old  Republican  organization. 

t  The  Whig  party  was  not  formally  organized  until  1834,  and 
those  who  were  classed  as  Whigs  prior  to  1836  embrace  the  various 
shades  of  opposition  to  Jackson,  all  of  whom  acted  with  the  Whig 
party  after  its  national  organization. 

519 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 


SENATE  HOUSE 

Twenty-eighth  Congress— 1843-45. 


Whigs 27 

Democrats 23 

Independents 1 


Whigs 69 

Democrats 140 

Independent 1 


Democrats 
Whigs.... 


Twenty-ninth  Congress — 1845-47. 


30 
24 


Democrats 139 

Whigs 76 

Native  Americans 6 


Thirtieth  Congress — 1847-49. 


Democrats 34 

Whigs 21 


Democrats. 


Democrats 108 

Whigs 115 

Independents 4 

Thirty-first  Congress — 1849-51. 


33 

Whigs 25 

Free  Soilers . .  ...     2 


Democrats 116 

Whigs HI 

Free  Soilers 3 


Democrats . 


Thirty-second  Congress — 1851-53. 


36 

Whigs 23 

Free  Soilers. .  3 


Democrats 140 

Whigs 88 

Free  Soilers ,    5 


Thirty-third  Congress— 1853-55. 


Democrats 39 

Whigs 18 

Free  Soilers..  ...     5 


Democrats 157 

Whigs 73 

Free  Soilers. .  3 


Thirty-fourth  Congress— 1855-57. 


Democrats 41 

Republicans 16 

Americans..  5 


Democrats, 


Republicans 108 


Americans. 


Democrats . 


Thirty-fifth  Congress— 1857-59. 


38 


Republicans 26 

Americans..  2 


Democrats. 


43 


93 


Democrats. . 

Republicans 26 

Americans..  2 


Republicans 113 

Americans 23 

Ind.  Democrats 8 

Thirty-sixth  Congress — 1859-61. 

Democrats 87 

Republicans 114 

Ind.  Democrats 6 

Americans. .  .    24 


Thirty-seventh  Congress — 1861-63. 


Republicans 31 

Democrats 8 

Unionists..  10 


Republicans 105 

Democrats 43 

Unionists 30 


*  The  Whig  party  practically  disappeared  from  national  politics 
in  1854  after  the  election  of  this  Congress,  and  those  classed  as 
Whigs  embraced  Whigs,  Republicans,  Americans  and  Anti-Slavery 
Democrats. 

520 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


SENATE  HOUSE 

Thirty-eighth  Congress— 1863-65. 

Republicans 39  I  Republicans 103 

Democrats 12  |  Democrats 80 

Thirty-ninth  Congress— 1865-67. 

Republicans 42  I  Republicans 145 

Democrats 10  |  Democrats 46 

Fortieth  Congress— 1867-69. 

Republicans 54  I  Republicans 174 

Democrats 12  |  Democrats 48 

Forty-first  Congress— 1869-71. 

Republicans 61  I  Republicans 170 

Democrats 11  |  Democrats 73 

Forty-second  Congress — 1871-73. 


Republicans 51 

Lib.  Republicans 6 

Democrats. .  17 


Republicans 133 

Lib.  Republicans 5 

Democrats 105 


Forty-third  Congress— 1873-75. 


Republicans 51 

Lib.  Republicans 4 

Democrats . .  19 


Republicans 198 

Lib.  Republicans 5 

Democrats..  .   88 


Forty-fourth  Congress — 1875-77. 


Republicans 47 

Democrats . .  .29 


Republicans 107 

Democrats 181 

Independents 3 

Forty-fifth  Congress — 1877-79. 


Republicans 137 

Democrats 156 


Republicans 39 

Democrats 36 

Independent 1 

Forty-sixth  Congress — 1879-81. 

Democrats 43  I  Democrats 156 

Republicans 33  |  Republicans 133 

Forty-seventh  Congress— 1881-83. 


Republicans 37 

Democrats 37 

Independents 2 


Republicans 152 

Democrats 130 

Greenbackers . .  .11 


Forty-eighth  Congress— 1883-85. 


Republicans 40 

Democrats . .  .36 


Republicans 119 

Democrats 200 

Greenbackers..  .    6 


Forty-ninth  Congress — 1885-87. 


Republicans 42 

Democrats 34 


Republicans 139 

Democrats 183 

Greenbackers . .  ,3 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 


SENATE 


Fiftieth  Congress 


HOUSE 
-1887-89. 


Republicans 

Democrats 37 


Republicans 152 

Democrats 169 

Independents 4 

Fifty-first  Congress — 1889-91. 

Republicans 45  I  Republicans 169 

Democrats 37  |  Democrats 161 

Fifty-second  Congress — 1891-93. 


Republicans 47 

Democrats 39 

Independents 2 


Republicans 88 

Democrats 235 

Farmers' Alliance. .  9 


Fifty-third  Congress — 1893-95. 


Democrats 

Republicans 37 

Independents 4 


Democrats 218 

Republicans 127 

Independents 11 


Fifty-fourth  Congress — 1895-97. 


Republicans 43 

Democrats 39 

Independents 6 


Republicans 248 

Democrats 104 

Independents 7 


Fifty-fifth  Congress— 1897-1899. 


Republicans 47 

Democrats 34 

Silverites 2 

Populists 5 

Independent 1 


Republicans 202 

Democrats 130 

Populists 22 

Silverites..  3 


Fifty-sixth  Congress— 1899-1901. 


Republicans 50 

Democrats 26 

Populists 5 

Independents 5 


Republicans 189 

Democrats 159 

Populists 5 

Silverites 3 


Fifty-seventh  Congress — 1901-3. 


Republicans 53 

Democrats 29 

Populists 4 

Independents 4 


Republicans 198 

Democrats 151 

Populists 8 


Fifty-eighth  Congress — 1903-5. 

Republicans 57  I  Republicans 208 

Democrats 33  |  Democrats  . . . , 178 

Fifty -ninth  Congress — 1905-7. 

Republicans 58     Republicans 250 

Democrats 32     Democrats 136 


522 


AND   HOW   WE   MAKE   THEM 

SENATE  HOUSE 

Sixtieth  Congress — 1907-09. 

Republicans 61   I  Republicans 2L.':', 

Democrats 31   |  Democrats. 168 

Sixty-first  Congress — 1909-11. 

Republicans 60  I  Republicans 219 

Democrats 32  |  Democrats 172 

It  will  be  seen  that  while  the  Democratic  party,  first 
known  as  the  Republican  party,  practically  controlled  the 
Government  from  the  success  of  Jefferson'  in  1 800  to  the 
success  of  Lincoln  in  1860,  since  1860  they  have  had  only 
two  Presidential  terms  under  Cleveland  and  have  had  con- 
trol of  both  branches  of  only  two  Congresses.  The  Forty- 
sixth  Congress  (1879-81)  had  ten  Democratic  majority  in 
the  Senate  and  twenty-three  Democratic  majority  in  the 
House.  In  the  succeeding  Congress  the  Democrats  lost 
control  of  both  branches,  and  since  then,  while  they  fre- 
quently carried  the  popular  branch,  they  were  the  majority 
party  in  both  branches  only  in  the  Fifty-third  Congress 
(1893-95).  In  the  Forty-seventh  Congress  they  lost  the 
House  but  held  the  Senate  practically  a  tie,  as  the  two 
Independents  given  in  our  table  were  Mahone,  Democratic 
Readjuster  from  Virginia,  who  inclined  to  the  Republicans, 
and  Judge  Davis,  of  Illinois,  who  inclined  to  the  Democrats. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  classify  the  third  party  representa- 
tives in  the  Senate  and  House.  They  were  generally 
Democratic  or  Southern  Unionists  during  the  war;  later 
they  were  Liberal  Republicans  who  were  opposed  to  Grant, 
and  since  then  they  have  been  Greenbackers,  Populists, 
Farmers'  Alliance,  Free-Silverites,  and  People's  party  men, 
but  all  practically  of  the  same  faith  and  against  the  gold 
financial  policy.  While  the  foregoing  table  does  not  pre- 
tend to  individual  accuracy  in  classifying  side  party 
Senators  and  Representatives,  it  gives  the  student  of  our 
political  history  an  entirely  correct  idea  of  the  various 
political  sentiments  represented  in  our  national  Congress. 


SUMMARY  OF  POPULAR  VOTES   FOR 
PRESIDENTS 


I  WAS  surprised,  after  careful  examination  of  the  various 
political  handbooks,  to  find  no  table  of  the  popular  vote  for 
President  prior  to  1824,  and  I  made  exhaustive  effort  to  ob- 
tain official  records  in  the  archives  of  the  nation  and  of  the 
different  States,  to  supply  something  approaching  an  intelli- 
gent table  of  the  popular  vote  cast  for  the  early  Presidents ; 
but  I  learned  that  the  failure  of  others  to  supply  such  tables 
was  not  because  of  negligence,  but  because  there  are  no 
records  to  furnish  them.  In  Pennsylvania  the  vote  returned 
to  the  Capitol  was  less  than  5000  for  Washington,  and  the 
vote  of  record  for  his  second  election  but  little  exceeds  5000. 
The  returns,  however,  are  fragmentary  and  valueless.  I 
was  compelled  to  abandon  the  purpose  of  giving  tables  of  the 
popular  vote  for  Presidents  prior  to  1824,  because  all  that 
could  be  obtained  would  be  confusing  rather  than  instructive. 

I  have  also  found  much  difficulty  in  trying  to  reconcile  the 
conflicting  returns  of  every  Presidential  election  since  1824. 
After  a  very  full  and  careful  examination  of  these  conflicting 
figures,  I  have  adopted  the  tables  prepared  by  Mr.  McKee  in 
his  admirable  work  entitled  "National  Conventions  and  Plat- 
forms," and  I  regard  them  as  more  nearly  accurate  than  any 
other  tables  presented.  The  entire  accuracy  of  these  elec- 
tion tables  is  not  a  matter  of  vital  importance,  as  in  none  of 
the  many  conflicting  returns  of  different  States  would  the 
result  have  been  changed  by  the  variations  in  the  returns  as 
stated  in  the  many  publications  which  for  some  years  past 
have  annually  given  them.  The  following  summary  of  the 
popular  vote  for  Presidents  since  1824,  with  the  electoral 
vote  cast  at  each  election,  is  taken  from  the  New  York 
World  Almanac  for  1900,  the  figures  of  which,  as  will  be 
seen,  usually  vary  from  those  presented  in  the  tables  I  give 
with  each  chapter  of  this  volume : 

524 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 


ELECTORAL   AND   POPULAR   VOTES. 


Election. 

Candidates  for  President,  State,  and 
Political  Paity. 

Popular 
Vote. 

Plu- 
rality. 

Elec. 

torai 
Vote. 

Candidates  for  Vice-President,  State, 
and  Political  Party. 

Elec- 
toral 
Vote. 

18*4.... 

Andrew  Jackson.  Tenn.,  Rep  
JohnQ.  Ad*m«.»  Mass.,  Rep  
Henr/  (  lay,  Ky.,  Rep  

155,372 
105,321 
46,587 
44,282 

50,551 

>     .-, 
84 
37 
41 

John  C.  Calhoun,*  S.  C.,  Rep  
Natnai.  Sanford,  N.  Y.,  Rep..  
.Nathaniel  Macon,  N.  C.,  Rep  
Andrew  Jackson.  Teno.,  Rep  
M.  Van  Buren,  N.  Y.,  Rep  
Henry  Cl  iv,  Kv.,  Rep  

182 
30 
94 
13 

9 

2 

Win.  H.  Crawford,  Ga.,  R«-p 

1888.... 
1886  ... 
1840. 

Andrew  Jackson,*  Tenn.,  Dem  
John  Q.  Adams,  Mas*.,  Nat.  R  

"509)697 

138.134 

178 
83 

~~219 
49 
11 

7 

John  C.  Calhoun,*S.  C.,  Dem  
Richard  Rush.Pa.,Nat.  R  
William  Smith,  S.  C..  Dem  

171 
83 
1 

49 
11 
7 

30 
147 
77 
47 
23 

Andrew  Jackson,*  Tenn.,  Dem  
''lav,  Kv.,Nat.  R  
John'Fl  >vd,  Ga.,  Ind  
William  Wirt  (.c),  Md  ,  Anti-M 

6*7,502 
530,189 
[      *«, 

157,313 

M.  Van   Buren,*  N.  Y.,  Dem  

Henry  Lee    Mass.    Ind.   . 

Amos  Ellmaker(c),  Pa.,  Anti-M  
William  Wilkins,  Pa.,  Dem  

Van  Bur«u,»  X.  Y.,  Dein  
Harrison,  O.,  Whig  
Hugh  L.  White,  Tenn.,  Whig  
-.Mat*.,  Whig  
.  :rn.  X.  C.,  Whig  

761,549 
736,656 

3 

170 

14 
11 

R.  M.  Johnson  (d),*  Ky..  Dem.  
Francis  Granger,  N.  Y.,  Whig  
John  Tyler,  Va.,  Whig  
William  Smith,  Ala.,  Deiu 

VT.   H                                   Whig  
Van  Buren,  X.  Y.,  Dem  
i    Birney,  V    Y     Lib 

1,275,017 

''";,  • 

146,315 

John  Tyler  *  Va.,  Whig  

234 
48 
11 

1 

R.  M.  Johnson,  Kv.f  Dem  
L   W.  Tazewell,  Va    Dem 

James  K.  Polk,  Tenn..  Dem  

1844     -  -  James  K.  Polk,*  Tenn.,  Dem  

Henrv  Clav,  Ky.,  Whig  
Jatnes  G.  Birr.ey,  X.  Y.,  Lib  

1.  1  n,M  . 

1,299,068 
62,300 

38,175 

170  George  M.  Dallas,*  Pa.,  De:n  
P.  Frelinghuvsen,  X.  J.,  Whig... 
..     Thomas  Morfis,O.,  Lib  

170 
105 

1848.--. 

Zachary  Taylor,*  L».,  Whig  
Lewis  CMM   Mich.,  Dem  

1,360,101 
],2'?0,544 
991,263 

139,557 

163 

Millard  Fillmore,*  X.  Y.,  Whig  
William  O.  Butler.  Kv.,  Dem..... 
Chas   F.  Adams,  MM.,  F.  Soil  

163 
127 

Van  Buren,  X.  Y.,  F.  Soil  

1852.... 

iSStJ.... 

Franklin  Pierce,*  N.  H.,  Dem  
Winfield  Scott,  X.  J.,  Whig  
John  P.  Hale,  X.  H..  F.  D.  (i)  
Daniel  V,                                            g  

1,601,474 

i.   -'  .'76 
156,149 
M70 

920,896 

254 
42 

William  R.  Kine,*  Ala.,  Dem  
Will-am  A.  Graham,  N.  C.  Whig  
George  W.  Julian,  Ind.,  F.  D  

254 
42 

James   Bucha:ia:i,«  I'...,  Dem  
John  C.  Fremont,  Cal.,  Rep  
:  Fillmore,  N.  Y.,  Amer  

1.-    Bylfl 

1,341,254 

874,538 

496,905 

174  J.  C.  Breckenridge,*  Kv.,  Dem  ... 
114  William  L.  Dayton,  X.'j.,  Rep  
8  A.  J.  Donelson,  Tenn.,  Amer  

174 
114 
8 

I860.... 
1864  .... 

Abrxham  Lincoln  *  III  ,  Rep  

C375^157 
845,763 
589,581 

491,195 

If 

72 

Hannibal  Harnlin,*  Me.,  Rep  
H.  V.  Johnson,  Ga.,  Dem 

180 
19 
79 
39 
212 
21 

Stephen  A.  Douglas,  III.,  Hem  
J.  C.  Breckenridge,  Kv.,  Dein  
John  Bell,  Tenn.,  Union  

Joseph  Lane,  Ore.,  Dem  

Edward  Everett,  Ma»s.,  Union  

.  -.1  Lincoln,*  III.,  Rep  
.",.  McClellan,  X.  J.,  Dem..  .. 

1,808,725 

e  212  Andrew  Johnson,*  Tenn.,  Rep  
21  George  H.  Pendleton,  O.,  Dem  

1868.-                              .rant,*  III.  .Rep  
Horatio  Seymour,  X.  Y..  Dem  

3,015,071,   305,456 

f-.>14 

Schuyler  Colfa*,*  Iud.,Rep  

214 
80 

47 

F.  P.  Blair,  Jr.,  Mo.,  Dem  

1872.... 

3,597,070 
2,834,079 
Hyi  - 

5,608 

76.',»91 

~ 

.. 
42 
1- 

1 

Henry  Wilson  *  Mass.,  Rep  

Horace  Greelev,  X.  Y.',  D.  A  L.  
Charles  O'ConSr,  X.  Y.,  Dem  

B.  Grau  Brown,  Mo.,  D.  L  

John  Q.  Adams,  Mass.,  Dem  
John  Russell,  Mich     Temp  . 

Thoma*  A   Hendricks   Ind"  ,  Dem 

George  W.  Julian,  Ind.,  Lib  

CbaVies  J.  Jenkins,  Ga.,  Dem.""".!!!."! 
David  Davis  III    Ind 

!!!! 

!!!". 

A    HTColquitt    Ga.,  Dem. 

John  M.  Palmer,  111.,  Dem  
P.  E.  Bramlette,  Ky.,  Dem  
W.  S.  Groesbeck,  O.,  Dem  

Willis  B.  Machen,  Ky.,  Dem  
V.  P.  Banks,  Mass.,  Lib  

1876  ... 

Samuel  J.  Tilden,  X.  Y.,  Dem  
Rutherford  B.  Haves,*  O..  Rep  
Peter  Cooper,  X.  Y..  (Jre'nb  
Green  Clay  Smith,  Ky.,  Pro  
James  B.  Walker,  III.,  Amer  

4,284  ,385 
4.     .'.••-• 
81.740 
9,522 
2.636 

250,935 

184 

h  Ho 

r.  A.  Hendricks,  Ind.,  Dem  

William  A.  Wheeler,*  N.  Y.,  Rep.... 

184 
184 

Gideon  T.  Stewart,O.,  Pro  

D.  Klrkpatrick,  N.  Y.,  Amer  

» 

1880  ... 

James  A.  Garfield.*  O.,   Rep  
W.  P.  Hancock,  Pa.,  Dem  
James  B.  Weaver,  Iowa,  Gre'nb  
Xeal  D  w.  M-.,  Pro  

4,449,053 
4,442,035 
307,306 
10,305 
107 

7,018 

;14  Chester  A.  Arthur  *  N.  Y.,  Bep  
155  William  H.Enelish,  Ind.,  Dem  

•  •      R    J    r^»mS»r=    TW««    fJr»'nti 

214 
155 

H    A    T>i                   O     P  o 

S.  C.Pomerov,  Kan.',  Amer.... 

James  G.  BUine,  Me.,  R-p  
John  P.  St.  John,  Kan.,  Pro.  . 
Benjamin  F.  Butler,  Mas*.,  Peop  
P.  D.  Wigrfnton,  Cal.,  Amer  

4.911,017 
133,825 

:::: 

jf'9  T.  A.  Hendricks,*  Ind.,  Dem  
A.Lojran,  111.,  Rep  
••     William  Daniel,  Md.,  Pro  
••     A.  M.  West,  Miss.,  Peop  

219 
181 

525 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 


ELECTORAL   AND   POPULAR   VOTE Continued. 


Tear  of 
Election  . 

1888.... 
1892.... 

Candidates  for  President,  State,  and 
Political  Party. 

Popular 
VoU. 

Plu- 
rality. 

Elec 
toral 
Vote 

168 
233 

Candidates  ior  Vice-President,  StaU, 
and  Political  Party. 

El«- 
toral 
VoU. 

~m 

833 

Grover  Cleveland,  N.  Y.,  Dem  
Benjamin  Harrison,*  Ind.,  Rep  
Clinton  B.  Fisk,  N.  J.,  Pro  
Alson  J.  Streeter,  111.,  U.  L  
R.  H.  Cowdrv,  111.,  U'd  L  
James  L.  Curtis,  N.  Y.,  Amer  

5,538,!W 
5,440,21 
249,90 
148,105 
2,808 
1,59 

»8,017 

Allen  G.  Thurman,  O.,  Dem 
Levi  P.  Morton,*  N.  Y.,  Rep  
John  A    Brooks   Mo     Pro 

C.  E.  Cunningham,  A'rk.,  U'd"  L  
W.  H.  T.  Wakefield,  Kan.,  U'dL.... 

•- 

Grover  Cleveland,*  N.  Y.,  Dem  
Benjamin  Harrison,  Ind.,  Rep  
James  B.  Weaver,  Iowa,  Peop  
John  Bidwell    Cal.,  Pro  

5,556,918 
5,176,108 
1,041.028 
264,133 
21,164 

380,810 

277 
145 
22 

Adlai  E.  Stevenson,*  111.,  Dem  
Whitelaw  Reid,  N.  Y.,  Rep  
James  G.  Field,  Va.,  Peopf.  
James  B.  Cranfill,  Tex.,  Pro  
Charles  H.  Matchett,  N.  Y.,  Soc.  L... 

277 
145 
52 

~m 

17C 

Simon  Wing,  Mass.,  Soc.  L  

18i>«.... 

William  McKinley  *  O.,  Rep  
William  J.  Bryan,  Neb.,  Dem.  ) 
William  J.  Bryan,  Neb.,  Pop.     f  '" 
Joshua  Levering,  Md.,  Pro  
John  M.  Palmer.  111.,  N.  Dem  
Charles  H.  Matchett,  N.  Y.,  Soc.  L.... 
Charles  E.  Bentley,  Neb.,  Nat.  (j)-... 

7,104,779 
6,502,925 
132,007 
133,148 
36,274 
13,969 

601,854 

271 
176 

292 
155 

Garret  A.  Hobart,*  N.  J.,Rep  
Arthur  Bewail,  Me.,  Dem......  
Thomas  E.  Watson,  Ga.,  Pop  
Hale  Johnson,  111.,  Pro  
Simon  B.  Buckner,  Ky.,  N.  Dem  
Matthew  Maguire,  N.  J.,  Soc.  L  
James  H.  Southgate,  N.  C.,  Nat.  (j  ).. 

19OO.... 

William  McKinley  *  O.,  Rep  

7,206,677 
6,374,397 
208,555 
50,337 
84,003 
39,537 
1,060 
5.698 

832,280 

Theodore  Roosevelt,*  N.  Y.,  Rep  
Adlai  E.  Stephenson,  111.,  Dem.  P  
Henry  B.  Metcalf  O     Pro 

29J 
155 

William  J.  Bryan,  Neb.,  Dem.  P  
John  G.  Woolley,  111.    Pro 

Wharton  Barker,  Pa.,  M.  P.  (m)  
Eugene  V.  Debs,  Ind..  Soc.  D  
Joseph  F.  Malloney,  Mass.,  Soc.  L.  .  .  . 
J.  F.  R.  Leonard,  Iowa,  U.  C.  (n)  .  .  .  . 
Seth  H.  Ellis,  O.,  U.  R.  (o)........... 

gnatius  Donnelly,  Minn.,  M.  P.  (m).. 
ob  Harriman,  Cal.,  Soc.  D  
Valentine  Remmel,  Pa.,  Soc.  L  
ohn  G.  WoolIev,Ill.,U.  C.(n).... 
Samuel   T.  Nicholas,  Pa..  U.  R.  (o}... 

~~336 
140 

1904.... 
1908.... 

Theodore  Roosevelt;»N.  Y.,  Rep  
Alton  B.  Parker,  N.  Y.,  Dem  
Eugene  V.  Debs,  Ind.,  So  
Silas  C.  Swallow   Pa    Pro  

7,6-24,489 
5,082,754 
402,286 
258,787 
117,935 
_  32,088 

,M1,636 

336 
140 

Charles  W.  Fairbanks,  Ind.,  Rep  
Henry  G.  Davis,  W.  Va.,  Dem..  
Benjamin  Hanford,  N.  Y.,  Soc  
George  W.  Carroll,  Tex.,  Pro  

Thomas  H   Tibbies   Neb     Peo 

C.  H.  Corrigan,  N.  Y.,  Soc.  L  .... 

William  W.  Cox,  111.,  Soc.  L  

William  H.  Taft,*O.,  Rep.  ... 
William  J.  Bryan,  Neb.,  Dem  
Eugene  V.  Deba,  Ind.,  Soc  

7,061,875 
6,015,160 
482,000 
260,000 
90,000 
32,000 

1,046,715 

303 
180 

James  S.  Sherman,*  N.  Y.,  Rep  
John  W.  Kern,  Ind.,  Dem  

321 

162 

Benjamin  Hanford,  N.  Y.,  Soc  
Aaron  S.  Watkins,  O.,  Pro  

Eugene  W,  Chafin,  Ills.,  Pro  
Thomas  E.  Watson,  Ga.,  Peo  
August  Gillhaus,  N.  Y.,  Soc.  L  
Thoma8  L.  Hisgen,  Mass.,  Ind  

Donald  L   Munro  Va    Soc.  L        ..   . 

John  Temple  Graves,  Ga.,  Ind  

*  The  candidates  starred  were  elected,  (a1)  The  first  Republican  Party  is  claimed  by  the  present  Democratic  Paity  as  its 
progenitor,  (b)  No  candidate  having  a  majority  of  the  electoral  vote,  the  Houseof  Representatives  elected  Adams,  (c)  Can- 
didate of  the  Anti-Masonic  Party,  (d)  There  being  no  choice,  the  Senate  elected  Johnson,  (e)  Eleven  Southern  States, 
being -withinthe  belligerent  territory,  did  not  vote.  (0  Three  Southern  States  disfranchised.  (g)Ho-ace  Greeley  died  after 
election,  and  Democratic  electors  scattered  their  vote,  (h)  There  being  a  dispute  over  the  electoral  votes  of  Florida,JLpusl- 
ana,  Oregon,  and  South  Carolina,  they  were  referred  by  Cor 
and  seven  Democrats,  which,  by 


angress  to  an  electoral  commission  composed  of  eight  Republicans 


_  strict  party  vote,  awarded  185  electoral  votes  to  Hayes  and  184  to  Tilden.  (i)  Free  Demo- 
crat, (j)  Free-Silver 'Prohibition  Party,  (k)  In  Massachusetts.  There  was  also  a  Native  American  ticket  In  that  State, 
which  received  184  votes,  (m)  Middle  of  the  Road,  or  Anti-Fusion  Party,  (n)  United  Christian  Party,  (o)  Union  Reform 
Party 

PRESIDENTS   OF   THE   UNITED    STATES. 


NAM«. 

Birthplace. 

i 

Paternal 
Ancestry. 

11 

naugurated  . 

Politics. 

Place  of  Death. 

Year. 

Age. 

Georga  Washington  

Westmoreland  Co.,  Va. 

7:;:> 

English  

Va.... 

1789 

57 

'•ed.... 

Mt.  Vernon,  Va  

im 

John  Adams...;... 

Juincy,  Mass  

78i 

CnglUh  

Mass. 

1797 

62 

red 

Quincy,  Mass  

1*!MI 

Thomas  Jefferson  

Shadwell.Va  

74;: 

.Velsh  

1801 

58 

Hep.... 

Monticsllo,  Va  

18% 

James  Madison  

r>ort  Conway,  Va  

751 

758 

English  

t'a  

1809 
1817 

58 
59 

Rep.... 

Moutpelier,  Va  
New  York  City.. 

1836 
1831 

John  Quincy  Adams  
Andrew  Jackson  

Quincy,  Mass  
Union  Co.,  N.C  

If," 

in 

English  
Scotch-Irish 

Mass  . 
Tenn 

1825 
1829 

58 
62 

Rep..   . 
Dem..   . 

Washington,  D.  C.... 
Hermitage,  Tenn  

1848 
1845 

Martin  Van  Buren  

fCinderhook,  N.  Y  

1^ 

Dutch  

N.  Y. 

1837 

55 

Dem..  . 

Lindenwold,  N.  Y.... 

1862 

William  H.Harrison... 
John  Tyler  

Berkeley,  Va  

1773 
17rm 

English  
English  

O.... 
Va... 

1841 
1841 

68 
51 

Whig.  . 
Dem..  . 

Washington,  D.  C  
Richmond,  Va  

1841 
1862 

James  K.  Polk  

Mecklenburg,  Co.,  N.C 

17% 

Scotch-Irish 

Tenn 

1845 

50 

Dem..  . 

Nashville,  Tenn  

1849 

iZachary  Taylor  
Millard  Fillmore. 

Orange  Co.,  Va  
Snmmerhill,  N.  Y  

17*4 

1801 

English  
English.... 

La... 
N,  Y 

1849 

1850 

65 
50 

Whig    . 
Whig    . 

Washington,  D.  C  
Buffalo,  N.  Y  

I860 

1874 

Franklin  Pierce  

HilUboro,  N.  H. 

English.... 

N.  H 

1853 

49 

Dem..  . 

Concord,  N.  H  

1H«» 

James  Buchanan.. 

Cove  Gap,  Pa  

lit 

Scotch-Irish 

Pa... 

1857 

66 

Dem..  . 

Wheatland,Pa  

1*68 

Abraham  Lincoln  
Andrew  Johnson  
Ulysses  S.  Grant  

LarceCo.,  Ky  
Raleigh,  N.C  
Point  Pleasant,  O  

1  M  .' 

180 

IS?" 

English.... 
English.... 
Scotch  

111... 
Tenn 
D.  C. 

1861 
1865 
1869 

52 
67 
47 

Rep  
Rep.... 
Rep.... 

Washington,  D.  C.... 
Carter's  Depot,  Tenn.. 
Mt.  McGregor,  N.  Y.. 

IS6S 
187S 
1885 

Rmtherford  B.  Hayes... 

Delaware,  O  

182 

Scotch  

O... 

1877 

54 

Rep  

Fremont,  O  

!893 

526 


AND   HOW   WE   MAKE   THEM 

PRESIDENTS   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.— Continued. 


NAME. 

i  A.  Garfield  
er  A.  Arthur  

r  Cleveland  

Birthplace. 

1 

Paternal 
Ancestry. 

il 

Inaugurated. 

Politics. 

Place  of  Death. 

1 

Year. 

A^e- 

CuyalK.ua  Co.,  O  
Kmrtu-ld,  Vt  
Caldwell,  N.  J     . 

i-..! 

LOT 

1-,:. 
1868 
ISM 

English.... 
Scotch-Irish 
English.... 
English.... 
English.... 
Scotch-Irish 
Dutch  
English.... 

U  
N.  Y. 
N.  Y. 
Ind  .. 
N.  Y. 
O  .... 
N.  Y. 
O... 

lt*l 

i8ti 

1>S5 
1889 
1893 
1897 
1901 
I-,-., 

4y 
51 
48 
66 
56 
54 
43 
52 

Hep.... 
Rep.... 
Dem 

Long  Branch,  N.J.... 
New  York  City  

1881 
1-^6 

min  Harrison  

?!ll  

in,  II.  Taft  

>d,O.... 

Rep  
Dem... 
Rep.... 
Rep 

Indianapolis,  Ind  
Princeton.  N.J  

1901 

11-08 
1901 

Caldwell,  N.J  
Niles,  O  
New  York  City  
Cincinnati,  O.  .. 

Buffalo,  N.  Y  

Fen  . 

VICE-PRESIDENTS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


Name. 

Blrthplac*. 

1 

Paternal 

Ancestry. 

II 

P 

Politics. 

Place  of  Death. 

1 

I| 

1  John  Adamt  
8  Thomas  Jefferson.... 

Quincy,  Mass  
Shadwell.  Va.... 

lltt 

174:-; 

English  
Welsh  

Mass. 

J7sa 

17*7 

Fed.... 
Rep.... 

Quiucy,  HUBS  
Moaticello,  Va  

IS'.'ti 

ItiM 

so 

Newark,  N.  J. 

1164 

Englhh 

N   Y 

1801 

Rep 

80 

4  Georg*  Clinton  
6  Elbridge  Gerry  
6  Dani«l  U.  Tompkins.. 

Ulster  Co.,  N.  Y  
Marblehead,  Mass.... 
Scarsdale,  N.  Y  

IT89 

1744 
1774 

Engli-H  
English  
English  

N.  Y. 

Mass. 
N.  Y. 

1806 

IMS 

1811 

Rep.... 
Rep.... 
Rep.... 

Washington,  D.  C..   .. 
Washington,  D.  C..   .. 
Staten  Island,  N.  Y 

1814 

18V5 

73 

70 

7  JohnC.  Calhoun  

Abbeville,  S.  C  

1189 

Scotch-Irish. 

S.  C. 

1896 

Rep.... 

Washington,  D.  C.     .. 

1850 

68 

8  Martin  Van  Buren.... 

Kinderhook,  N.  Y.... 

1189 

Dutch  

N.  Y 

]*;;;•'. 

Dem... 

Kinderhook.  N.  Y     .. 

IRfW 

19 

9  R;ch»r.l  M.  Johnson.. 
10  John  Tyler  
:-   M.  Dallas  

Louisville,  Ky  
Greenway,  Va  
Philadelphia,  Pa  

17-'.' 

1190 
11M 

English  
English  
English 

Pa..'! 

1*41 
1>4'> 

Dein... 
Dem  .  .  . 
Dem... 

Frankfort,  Kv  
Richmond,  Va  
Philadelphia,  Pa  

1850 
186'.' 

7» 
72 
72 

IS  Millard  Fillmore  
IS  William  R.  King  
14  John  C.  Breckenridge. 
15  Hannibal  Hamlm  
16  Andrew  Johnson  

Summer  Hill,  N.  Y... 
Sampson  Co.,  N.  C  .. 
Lexington,  Ky  
Paris,  Me.....  
Raleigh,  N.  C  

1800 
11M 
1891 
1809 

English  
English  
Scotch  
English  
Fnglish  

N.  Y 

Ala.. 
Ky.. 
Me.. 
Tenn 

1*49 
1868 
1861 
1881 
UM6 

Whig.. 
Dem... 
Dem  .  .  . 
Rep.... 
Rep  

Buffalo,  N.Y  
Dallas  Co.,  Ala  
Lexington    Ky  

1874 

it7i 
ISil 
1871 

74 
67 
54 

81 
tf> 

Banger,  Me  
Carter  Co..  Tenn  

17  SchuylerColfax  
18  Henrv  W-lson  . 

New  York  City,  N   Y 
Farmington,  N.  H  .  . 
Malone,  N.Y  

1  -'.':; 
1811 
1819 

English  
English  
English  

Ind.. 
Mais 

N.  Y 

1869 

1-77 

Re?.... 
Rep.... 
Rep.... 

Mankato,  Minn  
Washington.  D.  C    ... 
Malone,  N.Y  

1886 

1875 

1SS7 

62 
62 

68 

19,  William  A.  Wheeler. 

9<>  Chester  A.   Arthur.  .. 

Fairfield,  Vt  

1880 

Scotch-Irish. 

N.Y 

Rep.... 

New  York  City,  N   Y. 

1886 

66 

81  Th.-.s.  A.  Hendricks.. 

MufkingumCo.,O  .. 

1819 

Scotch-Irish. 

Ind.. 

1886 

Dem... 

Indianapolis,  Ind  

66 

82  Levi  P.  Morton  

Shoreham,  Vt  

1894 

Scotch.  . 

N    Y 

Rep 

93  Adlai  E.Stevenson... 

Christian  Co.,  Ky.   .. 

1881 

Scotch-Irish. 

111  ... 

1  -  ':•; 

Dem"" 

24!  G  arret  A.  Hobart  

Long  Branch.  N.  J  .  . 
New  York  City  .     . 

r>-44 

IHJW 

English  
Dutch  .  .  . 

s-v 

1891 

1901 

Patarton.  N.  J  

1699 

66 

9-;  Charles  W.  Fairbanks 
S71  James  S.  Sherman... 

Union  Co.,  Ohio..   ..     1852  English  
Utica,  N.Y  Il855l  English  

Ind... 
N.    Y. 

1906 
1909 

Rep. 

R«p.... 

President  Buchanan  was  the  only  Chief  Magistrate  of  the 
Republic  who,  having  served  one  term  in  the  Presidency, 
was  not  a  candidate  for  re-election.  He  announced  his  pur- 
pose not  to  be  a  candidate  in  his  inaugural  address,  and  I 
doubt  not  that  he  never  swerved  from  that  determination. 
At  the  close  of  his  administration  the  political  conditions 
gave  no  promise  of  his  re-election,  however  much  he  might 
have  desired  it,  but  he  was  then  past  the  patriarchal  years, 
and  he  is  the  one  President  who  entered  the  office  to 
serve  only  a  term  and  adhered  to  it.  The  elder  Adams  was 
defeated  for  re-election  by  Jefferson;  the  younger  Adams 
was  defeated  for  re-election  by  Jackson ;  Van  Buren  was  de- 
feated for  re-election  by  the  elder  Harrison,  and  the  younger 
Harrison  was  defeated  for  re-election  by  Cleveland,  while 
Hayes,  Polk,  and  Pierce  were  candidates  for  re-election, 
but  were  rejected  by  the  party. 

527 


OUR    PRESIDENTS 

Five  Vice- Presidents  succeeded  to  the  Presidency  by  the 
death  of  the  President,  and  all  of  them  were  earnest  can- 
didates for  election  to  another  term.  Tyler  and  Johnson 
sought  the  Democratic  nomination  and  failed.  Fillmore 
failed  in  the  struggle  for  the  Whig  nomination,  and  Arthur 
was  defeated  by  Elaine.  Roosevelt  was  unanimously  nom- 
inated by  his  party  and  elected  by  the  largest  popular  ma- 
jority ever  given  to  a  Presidential  candidate. 

Washington,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Monroe,  Jackson,  Lin- 
coln, Grant,  and  Cleveland  were  twice  elected  President. 
Jefferson,  Jackson,  and  Cleveland  were  each  defeated  for  the 
Presidency,  although  twice  elected.  Jefferson  and  Jackson 
were  defeated  in  their  first  contests,  and  then  elected  to  two 
successive  terms,  and  Cleveland  was  elected  in  1884,  defeat- 
ed in  1888,  and  re-elected  in  1892.  Jackson  and  Cleveland 
are  the  only  two  Presidents  who  were  candidates  in  three 
national  elections  and  received  an  increased  plurality  in 
each  successive  contest.  Both  were  defeated  in  one  battle 
when  they  had  received  the  largest  popular  vote.  Grant  was 
the  only  President  who  made  a  struggle  for  a  third  term. 

Five  Presidents  died  in  office — namely,  Harrison  in  1841, 
after  having  served  but  little  over  a  month;  Taylor  in  1850, 
after  having  served  less  than  a  year  and  a  half;  Lincoln  in 
1865,  only  a  little  more  than  a  month  after  his  second  in- 
auguration; Garfield  in  1881,  before  the  close  of  the  first 
year  of  his  administration,  and  McKinley  a  few  months 
after  entering  upon  his  second  term. 

Six  Vice-Presidents  have  died  in  office:  Clinton  in  1812, 
after  having  presided  over  the  Senate  for  seven  years ;  Gerry 
in  1814,  after  little  more  than  a  year  of  service;  William 
R.  King,  in  1853,  wno  to°k  the  oath  as  Vice-President 
on  the  4th  of  March  of  that  year  in  Cuba,  and  died  soon 
thereafter;  Henry  Wilson  in  1875,  having  served  but  little 
more  than  half  his  term;  Thomas  A.  Hendricks  in  1885, 
having  served  less  than  a  year,  and  Hobart  in  1899,  leaving 
nearly  a  year  and  a  half  of  his  term  unexpired. 

No  President  pro  tern,  of  the  Senate  has  ever  reached  the 
Presidency.  There  was  only  one  occasion  in  the  history  of 
the  Government  when  it  seemed  probable  that  the  President 
pro  tern,  might  be  called  to  the  chief  executive  office  of  the 
nation.  Johnson,  as  Vice-President,  had  succeeded  Lincoln 
as  President,  and  Senator  Wade,  of  Ohio,  was  president 
pro  tern,  of  the  Senate.  In  1868,  some  ten  months  before 

528 


AND  HOW  WE  MAKE  THEM 

the  expiration  of  Johnson's  term,  he  was  impeached  by  the 
House,  and  acquitted  in  the  Senate  by  a  single  vote.  The 
question  was  then  raised  as  to  whether  the  President  pro  tern. 
of  the  Senate  was  such  an  officer  as  was  contemplated  by  the 
Constitution  to  fill  the  office  of  President,  and  there  was  con- 
siderable agitation  from  time  to  time  on  the  subject  in  Con- 
gress, which  finally  culminated  in  the  passage  of  the  Presi- 
dential Succession  bill  of  January  18,  1886,  by  which  the  suc- 
cession to  the  Presidency  is  fully  defined  and  eligibles  are 
provided  quite  sufficient  in  number  to  meet  any  possible 
emergency.  The  following  is  the  full  text  of  the  present 
law  regulating  the  Presidential  succession: 

Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  that  in  case  of  the  removal,  death,  resigna- 
tion, or  inability  of  both  the  President  and  Vice- President  of  the 
United  States,  the  Secretary  of  State,  or  if  there  be  none,  or  in 
case  of  his  removal,  death,  resignation,  or  inability,  then  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury,  or  if  there  be  none,  or  in  case  of  his  removal, 
death,  resignation,  or  inability,  then  the  Secretary  of  War,  or  if 
there  be  none,  or  in  case  of  his  removal,  death,  resignation,  or  in- 
ability, then  the  Attorney-General,  or  if  there  be  none,  or  in  case 
of  his  removal,  death,  resignation,  or  inability,  then  the  Postmaster- 
General,  or  if  there  be  none,  or  in  case  of  his  removal,  death,  resig- 
nation, or  inability,  then  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  or  if  there 
be  none,  or  in  case  of  his  removal,  death,  resignation,  or  inability, 
then  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  shall  act  as  President  until  the 
disability  of  the  President  or  Vice- President  is  removed,  or  a  Presi- 
dent shall  be  elected:  provided,  that  whenever  the  powers  and 
duties  of  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States  shall  devolve 
upon  any  of  the  persons  named  herein,  if  Congress  be  not  then  in 
session,  or  if  it  would  not  meet  in  accordance  with  law  within 
twenty  days  thereafter,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  person  upon  whom 
said  powers  and  duties  shall  devolve  to  issue  a  proclamation  con- 
vening Congress  in  extraordinary  session,  giving  twenty  days'  notice 
of  the  time  of  meeting. 

SECTION  2.  That  the  preceding  section  shall  only  be  held  to 
describe  and  apply  to  such  officers  as  shall  have  been  appointed  by 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate  to  the  offices  therein  named, 
and  such  as  are  eligible  to  the  office  of  President  under  the  Consti- 
tution, and  not  under  impeachment  by  the  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  United  States  at  the  time  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  office 
shall  devolve  upon  them  respectively. 

SEC.  3.  That  sections  146,  147,  148,  149,  and  150  of  the  Revised 
Statutes  are  hereby  repealed. 


CONTESTED  PRESIDENTIAL  ELEC- 
TIONS 

THERE  have  been  only  two  seriously  contested  elections  in 
the  history  of  our  Presidential  conflicts.  They  were  the 
contest  between  Jefferson  and  Burr  in  1800-1  and  the  con- 
test between  Hayes  and  Tilden  in  1876-7.  The  Hayes-Til- 
den  contest  brought  the  country  to  the  verge  of  revolution, 
and  the  very  close  battle  between  Garfield  and  Hancock  four 
years  later,  and  the  Cleveland-Blaine  struggle  of  1884,  that 
turned  upon  noo  majority  in  a  vote  of  nearly  6,000,000  in 
New  York  State,  taught  the  necessity  of  having  some  definite 
statute  providing  for  the  determination  of  disputed  electoral 
votes  in  the  States  by  which  such  disputes  would  be  prac- 
tically eliminated  from  the  powers  of  Congress.  The  fol- 
lowing is  the  full  text  of  the  present  statute,  approved  Feb- 
ruary 3,  1887,  providing  for  the  determination  of  contested 
electors : 

Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  that  the  electors  of  each  State  shall  meet  and 
give  their  votes  on  the  second  Monday  in  January  next  following 
their  appointment,  at  such  place  in  each  State  as  the  Legislature 
of  such  State  shall  direct. 

SECTION  2.  That  if  any  State  shall  have  provided,  by  laws  en- 
acted prior  to  the  day  fixed  for  the  appointment  of  the  electors, 
for  its  final  determination  of  any  controversy  or  contest  concern- 
ing the  appointment  of  all  or  any  of  the  electors  of  such  State,  by 
judicial  or  other  methods  of  procedure,  and  such  determination 
shall  have  been  made  at  least  six  days  before  the  time  fixed  for  the 
meeting  of  the  electors,  such  determination  made  pursuant  to  such 
law  so  existing  on  said  day,  and  made  at  least  six  days  prior  to  the 
said  time  of  meeting  of  the  electors,  shall  be  conclusive,  and  shall 
govern  in  the  counting  of  the  electoral  votes  as  provided  in  the 
Constitution,  as  hereinafter  regulated,  so  far  as  the  ascertainment 
of  the  electors  appointed  by  such  State  is  concerned. 

SEC.  3.  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  executive  of  each 
State,  as  soon  as  practicable  after  the  conclusion  of  the  appointment 
of  electors  in  such  State,  by  the  final  ascertainment  under  and  in 
pursuance  of  the  laws  of  such  State  providing  for  such  ascertain- 
ment, to  communicate  under  the  seal  of  the  State,  to  the  Secretary 

530 


AND  HOW  WE   MAKE  THEM 

of  State  of  the  United  States,  a  certificate  of  such  ascertainment  of 
the  electors  appointed,  setting  forth  the  names  of  such  electors  and 
the  canvass  or  other  ascertainment,  under  the  laws  of  such  State, 
of  the  number  of  votes  given  or  cast  for  each  person  for  whose 
appointment  any  and  all  votes  have  been  given  or  cast;  and  it  shall 
also  thereupon  be  the  duty  of  the  executive  of  each  State  to  deliver 
to  the  electors  of  such  State,  on  or  before  the  day  on  which  they  are 
required,  by  the  preceding  section,  to  meet,  the  same  certificate,  in 
triplicate,  under  the  seal  of  the  State ;  and  such  certificate  shall  be 
enclosed  and  transmitted  by  the  electors  at  the  same  time  and  in 
the  same  manner  as  is  provided  by  law  for  transmitting  by  such 
electors  to  the  seat  of  government  the  lists  of  all  persons  voted  for 
as  President,  and  of  all  persons  voted  for  as  Vice- President :  and 
Section  136  of  the  Revised  Statutes  is  hereby  repealed ;  and  if  there 
shall  have  been  any  final  determination  in  the  State  of  a  controversy 
or  contest,  as  provided  for  in  Section  2  of  this  act,  it  shall  be  the 
duty  of  the  executive  of  such  State,  as  soon  as  practicable  after  such 
determination,  to  communicate,  under  the  seal  of  the  State,  to  the 
Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States,  a  certificate  of  such  deter- 
mination, in  form  and  manner  as  the  same  shall  have  been  made ; 
and  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States,  as  soon  as  prac- 
ticable after  the  receipt  at  the  State  Department  of  each  of  the  cer- 
tificates hereinbefore  directed  to  be  transmitted  to  the  Secretary 
of  State,  shall  publish,  in  such  public  newspaper  as  he  shall  desig- 
nate, such  certificates  in  full;  and  at  the  first  meeting  of  Congress, 
thereafter,  he  shall  transmit  to  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  copies 
in  full  of  each  and  every  such  certificate  so  received  theretofore  at 
the  State  Department. 

SEC.  4.  That  Congress  shall  be  in  session  on  the  second 
Wednesday  in  February  succeeding  every  meeting  of  the  electors. 
The  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  shall  meet  in  the  hall 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  at  the  hour  of  one  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  on  that  day,  and  the  President  of  the  Senate  shall  be 
their  presiding  officer.  Two  tellers  shall  be  previously  appointed 
on  the  part  of  the  Senate,  and  two  on  the  part  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  to  whom  shall  be  handed,  as  they  are  opened  by 
the  President  of  the  Senate,  all  the  certificates  and  papers  purport- 
ing to  be  the  certificates  of  the  electoral  vote,  which  certificates  and 
papers  shall  be  opened,  presented,  and  acted  upon  in  the  alphabetical 
order  of  the  States,  beginning  with  the  letter  A ;  and  said  tellers, 
having  then  read  the  same  in  the  presence  and  hearing  of  the  two 
Houses,  shall  make  a  list  of  the  votes  as  they  shall  appear  from 
the  said  certificates,  and,  the  votes  having  been  ascertained  and 
counted  in  the  manner  and  according  to  the  rules  in  this  act  pro- 
vided, the  result  of  the  same  shall  be  delivered  to  the  President  of 
the  Senate,  who  shall  thereupon  announce  the  state  of  the  vote, 
which  announcement  shall  be  deemed  a  sufficient  declaration  of  the 
persons,  if  any,  elected  President  and  Vice- President  of  the  United 
States,  and,  together  with  a  list  of  the  votes,  be  entered  on  the 
journals  of  the  two  Houses.  Upon  such  reading  of  any  such  cer- 
tificate or  paper,  the  President  of  the  Senate  shall  call  for  objections, 
if  any.  Every  objection  shall  be  made  in  writing,  and  shall  state 
clearly  and  concisely,  and  without  argument,  the  ground  thereof,  and 
shall  be  signed  by  at  least  one  senator  and  one  member  of  the  House 

531 


OUR   PRESIDENTS 

of  Representatives  before  the  same  shall  be  received.  When  all  ob- 
jections so  made  to  any  vote  or  paper  from  a  State  shall  have  been 
received  and  read,  the  Senate  shall  thereupon  withdraw,  and  such 
objections  shall  be  submitted  to  the  Senate  for  its  decision;  and  the 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  shall,  in  like  manner,  sub- 
mit such  objections  to  the  House  of  Representatives  for  its  decision; 
and  no  electoral  vote  or  votes  from  any  State  which  shall  have  been 
regularly  given  by  electors,  whose  appointment  has  been  lawfully 
certified  to  according  to  Section  3  of  this  act,  from  which  but  one  re- 
turn has  been  received,  shall  be  rejected;  but  the  two  Houses  con- 
currently may  reject  the  vote  or  votes  when  they  agree  that  such 
vote  or  votes  have  not  been  so  regularly  given  by  electors  whose 
appointment  has  been  so  certified.  If  more  than  one  return  or 
paper  purporting  to  be  a  return  from  a  State  shall  have  been  re- 
ceived by  the  President  of  the  Senate,  those  votes,  and  those  only, 
shall  be  counted  which  shall  have  been  regularly  given  by  the  elect- 
ors who  are  shown  by  the  determination  mentioned  in  Section  2 
of  this  act  to  have  been  appointed,  if  the  determination  in  said  sec- 
tion provided  for  shall  have  been  made,  or  by  such  successors,  or 
substitutes,  in  case  of  a  vacancy  in  the  board  of  electors  so  ascer- 
tained, as  have  been  appointed  to  fill  such  vacancy  in  the  mode 
provided  by  the  laws  of  the  State ;  but  in  case  there  shall  arise  a 
question  which  of  two  or  more  of  such  State  authorities  determin- 
ing what  electors  have  been  appointed,  as  mentioned  in  Section  2  of 
this  act,  is  the  lawful  tribunal  of  such  State,  the  votes  regularly  given 
of  those  electors,  and  those  only,  of  such  State  shall  be  counted 
whose  title  as  electors  the  two  Houses,  acting  separately,  shall  con- 
currently decide  is  supported  by  the  decision  of  such  State  so  au- 
thorized by  its  laws;  and  in  such  case  of  more  than  one  return  or 
paper  purporting  to  be  a  return  from  a  State,  if  there  shall  have 
been  no  such  determination  of  the  question  in  the  State  aforesaid, 
then  those  votes,  and  those  only,  shall  be  counted  which  the  two 
Houses  shall  concurrently  decide  were  cast  by  lawful  electors  ap- 
pointed in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  the  State,  unless  the  two 
Houses,  acting  separately,  shall  concurrently  decide  such  votes  not 
to  be  the  lawful  votes  of  the  legally  appointed  electors  of  such 
State.  But  if  the  two  Houses  shall  disagree  in  respect  of  the  count- 
ing of  such  votes,  then  and  in  that  case  the  votes  of  the  electors  whose 
appointment  shall  have  been  certified  by  the  executive  of  the  State, 
under  the  seal  thereof,  shall  be  counted.  When  the  two  Houses 
have  voted,  they  shall  immediately  again  meet,  and  the  presiding 
officer  shall  then  announce  the  decision  of  the  questions  submitted. 
No  votes  or  papers  from  any  other  State  shall  be  acted  upon  until  the 
objections  previously  made  to  the  votes  ©r  papers  from  any  State 
shall  have  been  finally  disposed  of. 

SEC.  5.  That  while  the  two  Houses  shall  be  in  meeting  as  pro- 
vided in  this  act,  the  President  of  the  Senate  shall  have  power  to 
preserve  order ;  and  no  debate  shall  be  allowed  and  no  question  shall 
be  put  by  the  presiding  officer,  except  to  either  House  on  a  motion 
to  withdraw. 

SEC.  6.  That  when  the  two  Mouses  separate  to  decide  upon 
an  objection  that  may  have  been  made  to  the  counting  of  any  elec- 
toral vote  or  votes  from  any  State,  or  other  question  arising  in  the 
matter,  each  Senator  and  Representative  may  speak  to  such  objec- 

532 


AND   HOW   WE   MAKE  THEM 

tion  or  question  five  minutes,  and  not  more  than  once ;  but  after 
such  debate  shall  have  lasted  two  hours,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
presiding  officer  of  each  House  to  put  the  main  question  without 
further  debate. 

SEC.  7.  Such  joint  meeting  shall  not  be  dissolved  until  the 
count  of  electoral  votes  shall  be  completed  and  the  result  declared; 
and  no  recess  shall  be  taken  unless  a  question  shall  have  arisen  in 
regard  to  counting  any  such  votes,  or  otherwise  under  this  act,  in 
which  case  it  shall  be  competent  for  either  House,  acting  separately, 
in  the  manner  hereinbefore  provided,  to  direct  a  recess  of  such 
House  not  beyond  the  next  calendar  day,  Sunday  excepted,  at  the 
hour  of  ten  o'clock  in  the  forenoon.  But  if  the  counting  of  the 
electoral  votes  and  the  declaration  of  the  result  shall  not  have  been 
completed  before  the  fifth  calendar  day  next  after  such  first  meet- 
ing of  the  two  Houses,  no  further  or  other  recess  shall  be  taken  by 
either  House. 


INDEX 


ABOLITION  party,  birth  of  the,  and 
its  first  candidates,  65 ;  its  sec- 
ond nominations,  84,  85  ;  its  plat- 
form in  1844,  85—88 ;  its  leaders 
denounced  by  Greeley,  90. 
Adams,  Charles  Francis,  a  candi- 
date for  the  nomination  of  Pres- 
ident by  the  Liberal  Republi- 
cans, 229. 

Adams,  John,  his  first  election  to 
the  Vice-Presidency,  2—4 ;  his 
second  election  to  the  Vice-Pres- 
idency, 4—6 ;  his  election  to  the 
Presidency,  7—1 1 ;  supported  by 
Washington  as  the  Federalist 
candidate,  8;  the  campaign  the 
most  defamatory  in  American 
politics,  9;  his  vote  in  the  third 
Electoral  College,  10,  u;  de- 
feated for  the  Presidency,  12—20 ; 
his  ungracious  departure  from 
the  Executive  Mansion,  20;  his 
after-life  and  death,  20. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  defeated  for 
the  Presidency,  35,  37 ;  his  elec- 
tion to  the  Presidency  by  Con- 
gress, 39-46;  his  popular  vote, 
42 ;  his  vote  in  the  tenth  Electo- 
ral College,  43,  45;  the  real  au- 
thor of  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  46 ; 
defeated  for  the  Presidency,  47- 
51 ;  a  model  President,  his  after- 
life and  death,  45,  46. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  receives  the 
Vice-Presidential  nomination  of 
the  Democratic  dissenters  in 
1872,  238 ;  offered  the  nomina- 
tion of  the  Presidency  by  the 
same  party,  238. 

Adams,  Samuel,  his  vote  for  the 
Presidency  in  the  third  Electoral 
College,  10,  II. 


Alien  and  Sedition  laws,  passage 
of,  and  their  purposes,  12,  13. 

Allen,  Philip,  at  a  national  Whig 
convention  in  1848,  107. 

American  National  party,  its  can- 
didates and  platform  in  1876, 
260 ;  its  candidates  and  platform 
in  1880,  283 ;  its  candidates  and 
platform  in  1888,  330-332 ;  splits 
on  a  question  of  voting,  331. 

American  Prohibition  National 
party  (a  split  from  the  Prohibi- 
tion party),  its  candidates  and 
platform  in  1884,  304,  305. 

Anti-Mason  party,  its  birth  and 
power,  52,  53 ;  calls  the  first  po- 
litical national  convention  ever 
held  in  the  country,  at  Philadel- 
phia, 52 ;  its  nominations,  53  ; 
its  ticket  adopted  by  the  National 
Republicans  in  several  States,  54. 

Anti-Monopoly  party,  its  candi- 
dates and  platform  in  1884,  299— 
301. 

Armstrong,  James,  his  vote  for  the 
Presidency  in  the  first  Electoral 
College,  3,  4. 

Arthur,  Chester  A.,  his  election  to 
the  Vice-Presidency,  274—284 ; 
succeeds  to  the  Presidency  after 
the  death  of  Garfield,  286;  his 
admirable  administration,  286, 
287;  the  author  meets  him  at  a 
dinner  given  by  Cameron,  287; 
his  life  after  his  retirement  from 
office,  287 ;  does  not  at  once  com- 
mand the  confidence  of  the  busi- 
ness and  industrial  interests  of 
the  country,  446. 

Ashman,  George,  permanent  chair- 
man of  the  Republican  National 
Convention  of  1860,  157. 


535 


INDEX 


BALLOTS  for  Presidential  nomina- 
tions in  1844,  79 ;  in  1848,  99,  104  ; 
in  1852,  117-118,  121 ;  in  1856, 
131-132,  138,  141 ;  in  1860,  158- 
162,  168,  170,  172,  173 ;  in  1868, 
209,  215-216 ;  in  1872,  227,  231, 
238 ;  in  1876,  249,  253 ;  in  1880, 
272-273,  279,  281 ;  in  1884,  289, 
294,  301,  304;  in  1888,  320;  in 
1892,  341,  345,  351,  353;  in  1896, 
367,  372,  378 ;  in  1900,  398,  408, 
412,  417,  423. 

Ballots  for  Vice-Presidential  nomi- 
nations in  1844,  79,  83 ;  in  1848, 
100,  105;  in  1852,  118,  121 ;  in 
1856,  132,  138,  142 ;  in  1860,  163, 
170,  172;  in  1864,  190;  in  1868, 
210;  in  1872,  227,  231,  238;  in 
1876,  249 ;  in  1880,  274,  279,  281 ; 
in  1884,  289,  294;  in  1888,  316, 
320,  325 ;  in  1892,  345,  351,  353  ; 
in  1896,  367,  373,  378;  in  1900, 
408,  412,  417,  423. 

Banks,  Nathaniel  P.,  his  vote  for 
the  Vice-Presidency  in  the  twen- 
ty-second Electoral  College,  241. 

Barnburners,  the,  98,  99,  107. 

Barton,  Wharton,  nominated  for 
the  Presidency  by  the  Middle-of- 
the-road  Populists  in  1900,  395 ; 
his  popular  vote,  437. 

Bell,  John,  the  nominee  of  the 
Constitutional  Union  party  for 
the  Presidency,  173,  174;  the 
author's  account  of  his  debate 
with  Johnson,  204. 

Bently,  Rev.  Charles  E.,  the  nom- 
inee for  the  Presidency  of  the 
"  Broad-Gauge  "Prohibitionists, 
386;  his  popular  vote,  391. 

Benton,  Thomas  H.,  at  a  national 
Whig  convention  in  1848,  107. 

Bidwell,  John,  nominated  for  the 
Presidency  by  the  Prohibition 
party,  351 ;  his  popular  vote,  259. 

Birney,  James  G.,  the  candidate 
of  the  Abolition  party,  his  first 
defeat  for  the  Presidency,  65,  71, 
72;  his  second  defeat  for  the 
Presidency  as  the  candidate  of 
the  Liberty  party,  90,  91. 

Black,  James,  nominated  for  the 
Presidency  by  the  Prohibition 


party  in  1872,  228  ;  at  the  Prohi- 
bition National  Convention  in 
1888,  329. 

Elaine,  James  G.,  compared  with 
Henry  Clay,  244-246 ;  at  the  Re- 
publican convention  at  Cincin- 
nati in  1876,  247-249,  252;  his 
efforts  to  secure  the  Republican 
nomination  for  the  Presidency  in 
1880,  270,  274;  defeated  for  the 
Presidency,  288-315  ;  he  favored 
the  nominations  of  General  Sher- 
man and  Robert  T.  Lincoln, 
288 ;  his  nomination,  289 ;  his 
popular  and  electoral  vote,  308, 
309 ;  why  he  was  defeated  in 
New  York  State  and  lost  the 
election,  309-312;  how  he  treat- 
ed the  Cleveland  scandal,  312 ; 
he  declines  the  Presidential  nom- 
ination in  1888,315;  his  after- 
life, 315. 

Blair,  Francis  P.,  shelters  Johnson 
during  his  incapacity  after  his 
inauguration,  204 ;  nominated 
for  the  Vice-Presidency  by  the 
Democrats  in  1868,  216. 

Booth,  Newton,  receives  the 
"  Greenback  •'•'•  nomination  for 
the  Presidency,  257. 

Bramlette,  Thomas  E.,  his  vote  for 
the  Presidency  in  the  twenty- 
second  Electoral  College,  243. 

Breckenridge,  John  C.,  defeated 
for  the  Presidency,  166—176. 

Brooks,  John  A.,  nominated  for 
the  Vice-Presidency  by  the  Pro- 
hibition party,  329. 

Brown,  B.  Gratz,  the  nominee  of 
the  Liberal  Republicans  for  the 
Presidency,  229-231 ;  nominated 
for  the  same  office  by  the  Demo- 
crats, 238  ;  his  vote  in  the  twenty- 
second  Electoral  College,  241. 

Bryan,  William  J.,  his  first  defeat 
for  the  Presidency  in  1896,  361— 
394 ;  his  nomination  by  the 
Democratic  party,  371-373;  his 
nomination  by  the  People's  party, 
378 ;  his  remarkable  campaign, 
390 ;  his  popular  vote,  391 ;  his 
electoral  vote,  392;  the  remark- 
able political  independence 


536 


INDEX 


shown  in  the  contest,  392-394; 
his  nomination  in  1900  by  the 
People's  party.  399 ;  his  nomina- 
tion by  the  Democratic  party, 
423 ;  his  nomination  by  the  Free 
Silver  Republicans,  428 ;  his 
nomination  indorsed  by  the  Na- 
tional Anti-imperialistic  League, 
432-433;  his  second  defeat  for 
the  Presidency,  434-436;  his 
great  campaign,  436 ;  his  popu- 
lar vote,  437 ;  his  electoral  vote, 
438. 

Buchanan,  James,  his  election  to 
the  Presidency,  130-153 ;  favored 
by  the  Southern  Democrats,  130, 
131 ;  his  -nomination  at  Cincin- 
nati, 131,  132;  one  of  the  most 
desperately  fought  conflicts  in 
American  politics,  145 ;  his  pop- 
ular and  electoral  vote,  148 ;  far- 
reaching  effects  of  his  quarrel 
with  Forney,  149-151 ;  his  po- 
litical methods  compared  with 
those  of  the  present  day,  151, 
152,  and  note ;  his  determination 
to  end  the  slavery  agitation,  152 ; 
his  reputation,  character,  and 
death,  153. 

Buckner,  Simon  B.,  the  nominee 
of  the  "  Sound  Money  "  Demo- 
crats for  the  Vice-Presidency, 

Burchard,  Rev.  Samuel  D.,  his  ef- 
fort to  restore  public  confidence 
in  Blame's  integrity  jeopardizes 
his  election  to  the  Presidency, 
310-312. 

Burr,  Aaron,  his  vote  for  the  Pres- 
idenc3r  in  the  second  Electoral 
College,  6 ;  his  character,  9 ;  his 
vote  in  the  third  Electoral  Col- 
lege, 10,  II ;  his  election  to  the 
Vice-Presidency,  12-20;  his  in- 
famous attempt  to  defeat  Jeffer- 
son in  the  Electoral  College,  17, 
18,  19. 

Butler,  Benjamin  F.,  the  nominee 
of  the  Anti-Monopoly  party  for 
the  Presidency,  299 ;  receives  the 
Presidential  nomination  of  the 
National  ("  Greenback  ")  party, 
301 ;  his  popular  vote,  308,  309. 


CAFFERY,  Donelson,  nominated 
for  the  Presidency  by  the  Na- 
tional party  in  1900,  433. 

Calhoun,  John  C.,  his  first  elec- 
tion to  the  Vice-Presidency,  39- 
45;  his  second  election  to  the 
same  office,  49-51 ;  Jackson's 
quarrel  with,  52. 

Cameron,  Donald  J.,  at  the  Repub- 
lican convention  of  1876,  248, 
249 ;  the  chief  factor  in  securing 
the  election  of  Hayes,  265 ;  his 
dinner  given  in  honor  of  Arthur, 
287 ;  his  strained  relations  with 
Harrison,  337,  338 ;  his  defeat  of 
the  Force  bill  and  how  it  affected 
his  political  fortunes,  339,  340. 

Campbell,  Judge,  his  appointment 
as  postmaster-general  by  Pierce 
revives  Native  Americanism,  128. 

Gary,  Samuel  F.,  receives  the 
"  Greenback  "  nomination  for 
Vice-President,  257. 

Cass,  Lewis,  how  he  came  to  be 
nominated  and  defeated  for  the 
Presidency,  98;  at  a  Whig  na- 
tional convention  in  1848,  107; 
popular  and  electoral  vote  cast 
for  him,  112;  his  popularity  in 
the  West,  113. 

Chamberlain,  Edward  M.,  nom- 
inated for  the  Vice-Presidency 
by  the  Labor  Reform  party  in 
1872,  227. 

Chambers,  B.  B.,  "  Greenback  " 
candidate  for  the  Vice-Presi- 
dency, 281. 

Chase,  Salmon  P.,  his  anticipated 
nomination  for  the  Presidency 
by  the  Democrats,  211,  212 ;  how 
his  defeat  by  Tilden  was  avenged 
by  Conkling,  268,  269. 

Clay,  Henry,  his  first  defeat  for  the 
Presidency,  39—45;  his  vote  for 
the  Vice-Presidency  in  the  tenth 
Electoral  College,  43 ;  his  second 
defeat  for  the  Presidency,  53-57 ; 
his  third  defeat  for  the  Presi- 
dency, 75-93;  his  reply  to  the 
address  of  the  Kentucky  electors, 
92,  93;  compared  with  Elaine, 
244-246. 

Cleveland,  Grover,  his  first  election 


537 


INDEX 


to  the  Presidency,  288-315;  the 
spirited  and  earnest  character  of 
the  campaign,  288 ;  his  nomina- 
tion, 294 ;  his  popular  and  elec- 
toral vote,  308,  309 ;  how  he 
gained  the  vote  of  New  York 
State,  310-312 ;  Dana's  estrange- 
ment from,  312-315;  his  treat- 
ment of  the  Elaine  scandal,  312; 
devoted  to  his  official  duties,  314 ; 
his  defeat  for  the  Presidency, 
316—336;  his  unanimous  nomi- 
nation, 316;  character  of  the 
campaign,  332 ;  his  popular  and 
electoral  vote,  333 ;  why  he  lost 
the  election,  334 ;  governed  by 
his  convictions,  334 ;  his  social 
and  political  character  outlined 
in  the  author's  intercourse  with 
him,  335 ;  his  second  election  to 
the  Presidency,  337-360;  his 
nomination,  343-345;  character 
of  the  campaign,  358 ;  his  popular 
and  electoral  vote,  359 ;  his  con- 
tests for  the  Presidency  like 
those  of  Jackson,  360;  com- 
pared with  Harrison,  361 ;  a 
review  of  his  administration, 
362—365 ;  his  administration  con- 
demned at  the  Democratic  Na- 
tional Convention  of  1896,  371, 

372. 

Clinton,  De  Witt,  defeated  for  the 
Presidency,  29-31 ;  his  electoral 
vote,  30. 

Clinton,  George,  his  vote  for  the 
Presidency  in  the  first  Electoral 
College,  3,  4 ;  in  the  second,  6 ; 
in  the  third,  10,  II ;  his  first  elec- 
tion to  the  Vice-Presidency,  22— 
24 ;  his  defeat  for  the  Presidency 
and  his  second  election  to  the 
Vice-Presidency,  25—27;  died  in 
office,  28. 

Cochrane,  John,  nominated  for 
Vice-President  by  revolting  Re- 
publicans in  1864,  and  his  with- 
drawal, 192. 

Cockran,  Bourke,  his  speech 
against  the  nomination  of 
Cleveland  at  the  Democratic 
National  Convention  of  1892, 
344- 


Colfax,  Schuyler,  his  election  to 
the  Vice-Presidency,  210—220. 

Colquitt,  Alfred  H.,  his  vote  for 
the  Presidency  in  the  twenty- 
second  Electoral  College,  241. 

Conant,  John  A.,  receives  the 
Vice-Presidential  nomination  of 
the  American  Prohibition  Na- 
tional party,  304. 

Conkling,  Roscoe,  his  efforts  to 
secure  the  nomination  of  Grant 
at  the  Republican  convention  of 
1880,  at  Chicago,  270,  271,  274 ; 
his  breach  with  Garfield,  284, 
285 ;  his  strained  relations  with 
Arthur,  286 ;  his  retirement  from 
politics  and  his  death,  285,  286. 

Constitutional  Union  party,  its 
convention  at  Baltimore  in  1860, 
and  its  candidates  and  platform, 

173,  174- 

Contested  Presidential  elections, 
and  the  statute  relating  to,  530- 

533- 

Control  of  Congress,  variations  in 
the  political,  517-523;  by  the 
Democratic  party  only  twice 
since  1860,  522-523. 

Cooper,  Peter  eceives  the  "  Green- 
back "  nomination  for  President, 
257;  his  popular  vote,  262. 

Corwin,  Thomas,  his  illustration 
of  the  Taylor-Cass  campaign  in 
a  speech  in  Ohio,  113,  114. 

Cowdrey,  Robert  H.,  nominated 
for  the  Presidency  by  the  United 
Labor  party,  327. 

Cranfill,  J.  P.,  the  Vice-Presiden- 
tial nominee  of  the  Prohibition 
party,  351. 

Crawford,  William  H.,  defeated  for 
the  Presidency,  39—45. 

Curtin,  Andrew  G.,  his  visit  to 
Johnson  accompanied  by  the 
author,  205-207 ;  a  candidate  for 
the  nomination  of  Vice-Presi- 
dent  in  1868,  210  ;  a  cabinet  posi- 
tion refused  him  by  Grant,  who 
appoints  him  minister  to  Russia, 
222 ;  his  courage  in  opposing 
pernicious  pension  legislation 
exposes  the  cowardice  of  Con- 
gressmen, 364,  365. 


INDEX 


Curtis,  James  Langdon,  nomi- 
nated for  the  Presidency  by  the 
American  party,  331. 

Czolgosz,  Leon  F.,  assassin  of 
President  McKmlev,  441  ;  his 
trial,  443 ;  his  electrocution,  444. 

DALLAS,  GEORGE  M.,  his  election 
to  the  Vice-Presidency  in  1844, 

75-93- 

Dana,  Charles  A.,  the  story  of  his 
bitter  estrangement  from  Cleve- 
land, 312-315;  his  ability  and 
character,  313. 

Daniel,  John  W.,  elected  chairman 
of  the  Democratic  National  Con- 
vention of  1896,  371. 

Daniel,  William,  the  Vice-Presi- 
dential nominee  of  the  Prohibi- 
tion party  in  1884,  305. 

Davis,  David,  works  for  the  nom- 
ination of  Lincoln,  157 ;  nomi- 
nated for  the  Presidency  by  the 
Labor  Reform  party,  227,  228 ; 
favored  as  the  nominee  of  the 
Liberal  Republicans  in  1872, 
229;  his  vote  for  President  in 
the  twenty-second  Electoral  Col- 
lege, 241  ;  his  declination  of 
service  on  the  Ha  yes-Til  den 
Electoral  Commission,  and  its 
results,  264. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  his  tribute  to  Lin- 
coln, 200,  20 1 ;  Johnson  puzzled 
how  to  dispose  of  him,  206,  207. 

Dearborn,  Henry  A.  S.,  nominated 
to  the  Vice  -  Presidency  by  the 
Native  American" party,  no. 

Debs,  Eugene  V.,  nominated  for 
the  Presidency  by  the  Social 
Democratic  party  in  1900,  407; 
his  popular  vote,  437. 

Depew,  Chauncy  M.,  at  the  Re- 
publican National  Convention  of 
1888,  319,  320;  of  1900,  411. 

Donelson,  Andrew  Jackson,  re- 
ceives the  Vice-Presidential  nom- 
ination of  the  American  National 
Council,  142. 

Donnelly,  Ignatius,  nominated  for 
the  Vice-Presidency  by  the  Mid- 
dle-of-the-road Populists  in  1900, 
395- 


Dougherty,  Daniel,  his  memorable 
speech  before  the  Democratic 
National  Convention  of  1880, 
278,  279. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  his  defeat 
for  the  Presidency,  166-176. 

Dow,  Neal,  the  Presidential  nomi- 
nee of  the  Prohibition  party  in 
1880,  282 ;  at  the  Prohibition  con- 
vention of  1888,  329. 

ELECTORAL  and  popular  vote  for 
Presidents  and  Vice-Presidents, 
with  their  States  and  parties,  526- 
527. 

Electoral  College,  vote  of  the  first, 
3,  4 ;  of  the  second,  6 ;  of  the 
third,  10,  II ;  of  the  fourth.  15, 
16,  18;  of  the  fifth,  24;  of  the 
sixth,  27 ;  of  the  seventh,  30 ;  of 
the  eighth,  34,  35 ;  of  the  ninth, 
36,  37;  of  the  tenth,  43,  45;  of 
the  eleventh,  51 ;  of  the  twelfth, 
56,  57;  of  the  thirteenth,  64;  of 
the  fourteenth,  73;  of  the  fif- 
teenth, 91 ;  of  the  sixteenth,  1 12  ; 
of  the  seventeenth,  127;  of  the 
eighteenth,  148;  of  the  nine- 
teenth, 175,  176;  of  the  twen- 
tieth, 193,  194;  of  the  twenty- 
first,  217,  218 ;  of  the  twenty-sec- 
ond, 241;  of  the  twenty-third, 
264 ;  of  the  twenty-fourth,  283, 
284  ;  of  the  twenty-fifth,  308,  309 ; 
of  the  twenty-sixth,  333 ;  of  the 
twenty-seventh,  359 ;  of  the  twen- 
ty-eighth, 392;  of  the  twenty- 
ninth,  438. 

Electors,  how  the  functions  of, 
were  first  exercised,  II,  16. 

Ellmaker,  Amos,  nominated  for 
the  Vice-Presidency  by  the  Anti- 
Mason  party,  53;  his  vote  in 
the  twelfth  Electoral  College,  56, 

Ellsworth,  Oliver,  his  vote  for  the 
Presidency  in  the  third  Electoral 
College,  10,  II. 

English,  William  H.,  his  defeat  for 
the  Vice-Presidency,  279-284. 

Evans,  Samuel,  receives  the  Vice- 
Presidential  nomination  of  the 
Union  Labor  party,  325. 


539 


Everett,  Edward,  nominated  for 
the  Vice-Presidency  by  the  Con- 
stitutional Union  party,  173. 

FEDERAL  party,  the,  preferred  by 
Washington,  Adams,  and  Ham- 
ilton, 2,  5,  7,  8 ;  opposed  by  Jef- 
ferson, 5,  7;  its  policy,  7,  8; 
passes  the  Alien  and  Sedition 
laws,  12 ;  its  bitter  opposition  to 
Jefferson,  21,  22,  23 ;  practically 
overthrown  by  the  success  of 
the  war  of  1812,  32;  perishes 
with  the  election  of  Monroe,  39. 

Fenton,  Reuben  E.,  his  reluctance 
to  aid  in  the  nomination  of  Gree- 
ley  to  the  Presidency,  230. 

Field,  James  G.,  receives  the  Peo- 
ple's party  nomination  for  the 
Vice-Presidency,  353. 

Fillmore,  Millard,  his  election  to 
the  Vice-Presidency,  105-1 12;  he 
succeeds  to  the  Presidency  after 
the  death  of  Taylor,  116;  he  re- 
verses the  policy  of  the  adminis- 
tration, 116;  his  defeat  for  the 
Presidency,  130-153. 

Fisk,  Clinton  B.,  nominated  for 
the  Presidency  by  the  Prohibi- 
tion party,  329  ;  his  popular  vote, 

333- 

Floyd,  John,  his  defeat  for  the 
Presidency,  56,  57. 

Foote,  Rev.  Charles  E.,  candidate 
of  the  Liberty  League  for  Vice- 
President  in  1848,  ill. 

Forney,  Colonel  John  W.,  obtains 
the  consent  of  Grant  to  accept 
the  Republican  nomination  to 
the  Presidency,  203. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  solicited  to 
become  the  competitor  of  Wash- 
ington, 3. 

Free-Silver  party.  See  People's 
party. 

Free-Soil  Democratic  party,  its  first 
convention  and  nominees,  107, 
108;  its  platform,  108,  110;  its 
candidates  and  platform  in  1852, 
123-126. 

Fremont,  John  C.,  his  defeat  for  the 
Presidency,  130-153;  his  nom- 
ination by  the  first  Republican 


National  Convention,  at  Phila- 
delphia, 136—138 ;  his  nomina- 
tion endorsed  by  the  anti-slavery 
seceders  from  the  American  Na- 
tional Council,  143 ;  visited  by 
the  author,  147 ;  his  nomination 
for  President  by  revolting  Re- 
publicans to  defeat  Lincoln,  and 
his  final  rejection  of  it,  192. 

ARFIELD,  JAMES  A.,  his  election 
to  the  Presidency,  270-287;  his 
nomination,  271-274;  character 
of  the  campaign,  283 ;  his  popu- 
lar and  electoral  vote,  283,  284 ; 
his  character,  284 ;  his  dis- 
agreement with  Conkling,  284, 
285. 

Gerry,  Elbridge,  his  election  to  the 
Vice-Presidency,  28—31. 

Gould,  Jay,  what  a  dinner  with, 
cost  Blaine,  310. 

Graham,  William  A.,  receives  the 
Whig  nomination  to  the  Vice- 
Presidency  in  1852,  121. 

Granger,  Francis,  defeated  for  the 
Vice-Presidency,  63,  64. 

Grant,  General  Ulysses  S.,  his  first 
election  to  the  Presidency,  202— 
220 ;  the  obstacles  to  his  nomina- 
tion, 202,  203;  his  dispute  with 
Johnson,  204 ;  refuses  to  ride 
with  Johnson  to  the  inaugura- 
tion ceremonies,  204 ;  his  nom- 
ination at  Chicago,  209—211 ;  his 
popular  and  electoral  vote,  217, 
218;  his  second  election  to  the 
Presidency,  221—243;  his  unfit- 
ness  for  civil  affairs,  221—223 ; 
the  author's  well-intended  sug- 
gestions to  him,  222,  223  ;  his  re- 
election opposed  by  the  author, 
223 ;  his  discussion  of  public 
affairs  with  the  author,  223—225  ; 
his  despotic  control  of  the  party 
machinery,  225 ;  how  his  name 
was  changed,  235;  his  popular 
vote,  239-240;  at  the  grave  of 
Greeley,  243  ;  scandals  which  dis- 
graced his  administration,  246 ; 
his  discussion  of  the  question  of 
a  third  term,  246;  Conkling 
presents  his  name  as  a  candidate 


540 


INDEX 


for  a  third  term  of  the  Presidency 
before  the  Republican  National 
Convention  of  1880,  270,  271  ;  his 
disappointment  at  not  securing 
a  nomination  to  a  third  term,  277. 

Greeley,  Horace,  denounces  the 
leaders  of  the  Abolition  party  for 
defeating  Clay,  90;  disgruntled 
at  the  nomination  of  Taylor,  105 ; 
finally  decides  to  support  Taylor, 
and  is  sent  to  Congress  by  the 
Whigs  of  New  York,  105;  op- 
poses the  nomination  of  Seward 
to  the  Presidency,  155;  opposes 
the  renomination  of  Lincoln,  183  ; 
his  defeat  for  the  Presidency, 
221-243;  his  nomination  at 
Cincinnati,  228—234 »  nominated 
by  the  Democrats  at  Baltimore, 
238 ;  his  popular  vote,  239,  240 ; 
his  electoral  vote,  241 ;  cause  of 
his  defeat,  242 ;  incidents  of  his 
campaign,  242,  243;  his  sad 
death,  240,  243. 

"  Greenback  "  (or  Independent  Na- 
tional) party,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  George  H.  Pendleton, 
219,  220;  its  candidates  and 
platform  in  1876,  257,  258;  its 
candidates  and  platform  in  1880, 
281,  282. 

Greer,  James  R.,  nominated  for  the 
Vice-Presidency  by  the  Amer- 
ican party,  331. 

Groesbeck,  William  S.,  his  vote 
for  the  Vice-Presidency  in  the 
twenty-second  Electoral  College, 
241. 

HALE,  JOHN  P.,  nominated  for  the 
Presidency  by  the  Liberty  party, 
in;  nominated  for  the  Presi- 
dency by  the  Free-Soil  Demo- 
crats, 123. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  in  sympathy 
with  Washington  and  Adams, 
and  opposed  to  Jefferson,  7,  8. 

Hamlin,  Hannibal,  his  election  to 
the  Vice-Presidency  in  1860,  154- 
169. 

Hancock,  John,  his  vote  for  the 
Presidency  in  the  first  Electoral 
College,  3,  4. 


Hancock,  Winfield  S.,  defeated  for 
the  Presidency,  278-284;  his 
popular  and  electoral  vote,  283- 
284  ;  cause  of  his  defeat,  278,  283. 

Hanna,  Mark  A.,  his  mistake  in 
making  McKinley  straddle  the 
money  question,  365,  366 ;  chair- 
man of  the  National  Committee, 
411 ;  accepts  Roosevelt  as  candi- 
date for  the  Vice-Presidency  in 
1900,  448. 

Harper,  Robert  G.,  his  first  defeat 
for  the  Vice-Presidency,  34,  35; 
his  second  defeat  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency,  36,  37. 

Harriman,  Job,  nominated  for  the 
Presidency  by  the  Socialists' 
Labor  party  in  1900,  405 ;  nom- 
inated by  the  Social  Democratic 
party,  407. 

Harrison,  Benjamin,  his  election 
to  the  Presidency,  316—336;  his 
nomination,  319,  320;  character 
of  the  campaign,  332 ;  his  popular 
and  electoral  vote,  333;  his  ad- 
ministration not  a  tranquil  one, 
337-340;  defeated  for  the  Presi- 
dency, 337—360 ;  his  nomination, 
340,  341 ;  character  of  the  cam- 
paign, 358 ;  his  popular  and  elec- 
toral vote,  359. 

Harrison,  Robert  H.,  his  vote  for 
the  Presidency  in  the  first  Elec- 
toral College,  3,  4. 

Harrison,  William  Henry,  defeat- 
ed for  the  Presidency,  59-64; 
character  of  the  campaign,  161 ; 
his  election  to  the  Presidency, 
65-74;  birth  of  the  Abolition 
party  during  the  campaign,  65 ; 
how  his  nomination  was  se- 
cured, 67,  68;  a  national  party 
platform  presented  for  the  first 
time  during  this  election,  70 ;  the 
campaign  one  of  great  popular 
interest,  71 ;  his  popular  and 
electoral  vote,  71,  72,  73;  his 
death  shortly  after  his  inaugu- 
ration, 73. 

Hayes,  Max  S.,  nominated  for  the 
Vice-Presidency  by  the  Social- 
ists' Labor  party  in  1900,  405- 
406. 


541 


INDEX 


Hayes,  Rutherford  B.,  his  election 
to  the  Presidency,  244-267;  his 
nomination,  249;  his  popular 
vote,  262;  his  election  decided 
by  the  Electoral  Commission  ap- 
pointed by  Congress,  263 ;  his 
electoral  vote  as  determined  by 
the  Electoral  Commission,  264. 

Hendricks,  Thomas  A.,  nominated 
for  the  Vice-Presidency,  253 ;  his 
election  to  the  Vice-Presidency, 
294-309. 

Henry,  John,  his  vote  for  the  Pres- 
idency in  the  third  Electoral  Col- 
lege, 10,  II. 

Hill,  David  B.,  at  the  Democratic 
National  Convention  of  1896, 
371,  372 ;  declines  the  Democrat- 
ic nomination  for  Vice -Presi- 
dency in  1900,  423. 

Hobart,  Garret  A.,  his  election  to 
the  Vice-Presidency,  367-394 ; 
his  electoral  vote,  392. 

Houston,  General  Samuel,  at  a  na- 
tional Whig  convention  in  1848, 
107. 

Howard,  John  Eager,  his  vote  for 
Vice-President  in  the  eighth 
Electoral  College,  34,  35. 

Howe,  Archibald  M.,  nominated 
for  the  Vice-Presidency  by  the 
National  party  in  1900,  433. 

Hughes,  Archbishop,  how  Sew- 
ard's  friendship  for,  deprived 
him  of  the  nomination  for  the 
Presidency,  156. 

Hunkers,  the,  98,  99. 

Huntingdon,  Samuel,  his  vote  for 
the  Presidency  in  the  first  Elec- 
toral College,  3,  4. 

INDUSTRIAL    CONGRESS    party 

and  their  candidates  in  1848,  1 1 1 . 

Ingersoll,  Jared,  Federalist  nomi- 
nee for  Vice-President  in  1804, 
29 ;  his  electoral  vote,  30. 

Ingersoll,  Robert  G.,  his  speech 
nominating  Blaine  before  the 
Republican  convention  of  1876, 
247,  248. 

Iredell,  James,  his  vote  for  the 
Presidency  in  the  third  Electoral 
College,  10,  ii. 


JACKSON,  ANDREW,  defeated  for 
the  Presidency,  39-45 ;  though 
receiving  the  largest  popular 
and  electoral  vote,  42,  43;  his 
vote  for  the  Vice-Presidency  in 
the  tenth  Electoral  College,  43 ; 
his  first  election  to  the  Presi- 
dency, 47—51 ;  his  initiation  of 
the  spoils  system,  47 ;  character 
of  his  campaign  and  to  what 
his  popularity  was  due,  47—49 ; 
his  popular  and  electoral  vote, 
50,  51 ;  his  second  election  to 
the  Presidency,  51-58  ;  confused 
condition  of  politics  during  his 
second  campaign,  51,  52;  his 
popular  and  electoral  vote,  55, 
56,  57;  his  after-life  and  death, 
58. 

Jay,  John,  his  vote  for  the  Presi- 
dency in  the  first  Electoral  Col- 
lege, 3,  4;  in  the  third,  10,  n; 
in  the  fourth,  15,  16. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  his  vote  for 
the  Presidency  in  the  second 
Electoral  College,  6 ;  his  election 
to  the  Vice-Presidency,  7-11 ;  his 
election  to  the  Presidency  de- 
feated by  the  influence  of  Wash- 
ington, 9 ;  defamatory  character 
of  the  campaign,  9  ;  his  first  elec- 
tion to  the  Presidency,  12—  1 6 ; 
the  revolutionary  character  of 
the  campaign,  12,  13 ;  his  vote 
in  the  fourth  Electoral  College, 
15,  16,  18 ;  Burr's  infamous  at- 
tempt to  deprive  him  of  his  elec- 
tion, 17,  18,  19;  his  honorable 
refusal  to  effect  his  election  by 
making  a  deal  with  the  Federal- 
ists, 17,  18;  his  opposition  to 
pomp  and  ceremony,  20 ;  his 
second  election  to  the  Presi- 
dency, 21-24;  bitterly  opposed 
by  the  Federalists,  21 ;  his  pur- 
chase of  Louisiana,  22 ;  his 
popular  vote,  23 ;  his  vote  in  the 
fifth  Electoral  College,  24;  his 
after-life  and  death,  20. 

Jenkins,  Charles  J.,  his  vote  for 
the  Presidency  in  the  twenty- 
second  Electoral  College,  241. 


542 


INDEX 


Johnson,  Andrew,  his  election  to 
the  Vice-Presidency  desired  by 
Lincoln,  185,  186;  responsible 
for  the  nomination  of  Grant  by 
the  Republicans,  203 ;  intoxicat- 
ed at  his  inauguration  into  office, 
203,  205 ;  his  erratic  conduct  as 
President,  204,  205,  207,  218,  219  ; 
the  author's  opinion  of  him,  204, 
205 ;  visited  by  Governor  Curtin 
accompanied  by  the  author,  205— 
207;  his  uncertainty  regarding 
the  cases  of  Wurz  and  Jefferson 
Davis,  206,  207. 

Johnson,  Hale,  nominated  for  the 
Vice-Presidency  by  the  "  Nar- 
row-Gauge "  Prohibition  party, 
386. 

Johnson,  Herschel  V.,  nominated 
for  the  Vice-Presidency,  170. 

Johnson,  Richard  M.,  elected  to 
the  Vice-Presidency,  59-64;  de- 
feated for  the  Vice-Presidency, 

69,  73-  .. 

Johnston,  Samuel,  his  vote  for  the 
Presidency  in  the  third  Electoral 
College,  10,  ii. 

Judd,  Norman  B.,  works  for  Lin- 
coln's nomination,  157. 

Julian,  George  W.,  nominated  by 
the  Free-Soil  Democrats  for  the 
Vice-Presidency,  123 ;  his  vote 
for  the  Presidency  in  the  twen- 
ty-second Electoral  College,  241. 

KING,  LEICESTER,  nominated  as 
Vice-President  by  the  Liberty 
party,  III. 

King,  Rufus,  his  first  defeat  for 
the  Vice-Presidency,  23,  24 ;  his 
second  defeat  for  the  Vice-Presi- 
dency, 26,  27 ;  his  defeat  for  the 
Presidency,  34,  35. 

King,  William  R.,  his  election  to 
the  Vice-Presidency  in  1852,  115- 
129. 

Kirkpatrick,  Donald,  nominated 
for  the  Vice-Presidency  by  the 
American  National  party,  260. 

LABOR  REFORM  party,  their  plat- 
form of  1872,  225-227 ;  their  can- 
didates, 227,  228. 


Langdon,  John,  his  vote  for  the 
Vice-Presidency  in  the  sixth 
Electoral  College,  27. 

Lee,  Henry,  defeated  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency,  56,  57. 

Lemoyne,  Francis  G.,  receives  the 
Vice-Presidential  nomination  of 
the  Abolition  party,  65. 

Levering,  Joshua,  nominated  for 
the  Presidency  by  the  "  Narrow- 
Gauge  "  Prohibition  party,  386 ; 
his  popular  vote,  391. 

Liberal  Republican  party,  its  or- 
ganization and  character,  228, 
229 ;  its  platform,  231-234. 

Liberty  (or  Birney)  party,  91 ;  its 
candidates  in  1847,  III.  See 
Abolition  party. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  his  first  election 
to  the  Presidency,  154-182;  the 
story  of  his  nomination,  154—162 ; 
the  character  of  the  campaign, 
J74*  J75;  his  popular  and  elec- 
toral vote,  175,  176;  the  revolu- 
tionary character  of  his  election, 
176,  177 ;  an  interesting  episode 
of  the  campaign,  177;  the  au- 
thor's correspondence  with,  de- 
stroyed by  fire,  177,  178 ;  a  prac- 
tical politician,  178 ;  the  grandeur 
of  his  character,  178,  180;  his 
midnight  journey  from  Harris- 
burg  to  Washington,  180-182; 
his  second  election  to  the  Presi- 
dency, 183-196 ;  he  concedes  the 
election  of  General  McClellan, 
183;  his  strength  with  the  peo- 
ple rather  than  with  the  leaders, 
183 ;  his  anxiety  regarding  his 
renomination,  184 ;  his  unrea- 
sonable request,  184,  185 ;  he 
seeks  the  nomination  of  Andrew 
Johnson  for  Vice-President  rath- 
er than  that  of  Hamlin,  and  his 
reason  for  the  preference,  185, 
186;  his  unanimous  renomina- 
tion at  Baltimore,  186 ;  an  at- 
tempt to  create  a  revolt  against 
him  in  the  Republican  party, 
191-193;  his  election  made  cer- 
tain by  the  victories  of  Sherman 
and  Sheridan,  193;  his  popular 
and  electoral  vote,  194 ;  vote,  of 


543 


INDEX 


the  soldiers,  194 ;  his  friends'  ef- 
forts to  win  Pennsylvania,  195 ; 
and  how  the  State  was  carried, 
196,  197;  he  favored  compen- 
sated emancipation,  197,  198; 
his  character  and  traits,  198, 199  ; 
the  unpardonable  assaults  upon 
his  reputation,  199;  his  home 
life,  199,  200 ;  a  tribute  from  Jef- 
ferson Davis,  200,  201 ;  he  sus- 
pects that  Grant  favored  the  elec- 
tion of  McClellan,  224. 

Lincoln,  Benjamin,  his  vote  for 
the  Presidency  in  the  first  Elec- 
toral College,  3,  4. 

Lincoln,  Robert  T.,  suggested  for 
the  Republican  nomination  for 
Vice-President,  288,  289. 

Lodge,  Henry  C.,  permanent  presi- 
dent of  the  Republican  National 
Convention  of  1900,  411. 

MCCLELLAN,  GENERAL  GEORGE 

B.,  defeated  for  the  Presidency, 
183-294. 

McGlynn,  Rev.  Edward,  prepares 
the  platform  of  the  United  La- 
bor party,  327-329. 

Machen,  Willis  B.,  his  vote  for  the 
Presidency  in  the  twenty-second 
Electoral  College,  241. 

Machett,  Charles  H.,  nominated 
for  the  Vice-Presidency  by  the 
Socialists'  Labor  party,  357 ; 
nominated  for  the  Presidency  by 
the  same  party,  388 ;  his  popular 
vote,  391. 

Mackey,  Robert  W.,  how  he  thwart- 
ed the  Democrats  in  holding 
Florida  for  Tilden,  265. 

McKinley,  William,  the  disastrous 
effect  of  his  tariff  bill,  340; 
president  of  the  Republican 
National  Convention  of  1892, 
340 ;  his  first  election  to  the  Presi- 
dency, 361—394 ;  his  nomination, 
365 ;  his  straddle  of  the  money 
issue,  365,  366 ;  his  popular  vote, 
391 ;  his  electoral  vote,  392 ;  the 
lesson  of  the  campaign,  392- 
394;  his  nomination  in  1900, 
412;  the  Prohibition  party  op- 
posed to  his  re-election,  419- 


420 ;  his  re-election  to  the  Presi- 
dency, 436;  has  the  largest 
popular  vote  eveif  given  to  a 
candidate,  436 ;  his  popular  vote, 
437;  his  electoral  vote,  438;  re- 
inaugurated,  439 ;  visits  the 
Pan  -  American  Exposition  at 
Buffalo,  440 ;  shot  while  holding 
a  public  reception  in  the  Temple 
of  Music,  441 ;  favorable  reports 
of  his  condition,  442 ;  his  favorite 
hymn,  443 ;  his  last  words,  443 ; 
his  death,  443. 

McLean,  John  R.,  at  the  Demo- 
cratic National  Convention  of 
1896,  373- 

Macon,  Nathaniel,  defeated  for  the 
Vice-Presidency,  43. 

Madison,  James,  his  first  almost 
unanimous  election  to  the  Presi- 
dency, 25-27;  his  vote  in  the 
sixth  Electoral  College,  27;  his 
second  election  to  the  Presidency, 
28-31 ;  his  nomination  depended 
upon  his  vigorous  war  policy 
with  England,  28;  his  vote  in 
the  seventh  Electoral  College, 

30,  31. 

Maguire,    Matthew,    the   nominee 

of  the  Socialists'  Labor  party  for 

Vice-President,  388. 
Mangum,   Willie  P.,   defeated  for 

the  Presidency,  59—64. 
Manning,  Daniel,  secures  the  first 

nomination  of  Cleveland  to  the 

Presidency,  293,  294. 
Marshall,   John,   defeated  for  the 

Vice-Presidency,  34,  35. 
Medill,  Colonel  Joseph,  leads  the 

fight  for  Lincoln  in  Republican 

National    Convention    of    1860, 

157- 

Metcalfe,  Henry  E.,  nominated  fov 
the  Vice-Presidency  by  the  Pro- 
hibition party  in  1900, 417  ;  Mid- 
dle-of-the-road Populists,  their 
candidates  and  platform  in  1900, 

395-397- 

Milton,  John,  his  vote  for  the  Presi- 
dency in  the  first  Electoral  Col- 
lege, 3,  4. 

Monroe,  Jajnes,  his  vote  for  the 
Vice-Presidency  in  the  sixth 


544 


INDEX 


Electoral  College,  27;  his  first 
election  to  the  Presidency,  32— 
35;  his  animated  canvass  for 
the  nomination,  33;  Federalists 
make  little  or  no  opposition,  34 ; 
his  vote  in  the  eighth  Electoral 
College,  34,  35 ;  his  second  elec- 
tion to  the  Presidency,  35,  38 ; 
his  election  unanimous,  no  for- 
mal nominations  being  made  by 
any  party,  35,  36;  the  vote  of 
the  ninth  Electoral  College,  36- 
37 ;  his  peaceful  reign,  after-life, 
and  death,  32,  38. 
Morton,  Levi  P.,  his  election  to  the 
Vice-Presidency,  320-326. 

NATIONAL  ANTI-IMPERIALISTIC 
LEAGUE,  First  Liberty  Congress 
of,  432 ;  denounces  the  ad- 
ministration of  McKinley,  433; 
recommends  the  support  of 
Bryan  for  the  Presidency,  433. 

National  Democratic  ("  Sound 
Money ")  party,  its  candidates 
and  platform  in  1896,  382-385. 

National  ("  Greenback  ")  party,  its 
candidates  and  platform  in  1884, 
301-304. 

National  party,  its  candidates  in 
1900,  433. 

Native  American  (or  "  Know-Noth- 
ing ")  party,  birth  of,  no,  ill; 
its  first  convention  and  candi- 
dates, no;  its  nomination  of 
General  Taylor,  103 ;  its  evolu- 
tion into  the  American  National 
Council,  which  meets  at  Phila- 
delphia in  1856  and  nominates 
Millard  FiHmore  for  President 
and  Andrew  Jackson  Donelson 
for  Vice-President,  140-142;  its 
platform,  142,  143 ;  its  disappear- 
ance, 174. 

O'CONOR,  CHARLES,  nominated 
for  the  Presidency  by  Democratic 
dissenters  in  1872,  238;  he  de- 
clines the  nomination,  238. 

PALMER,  JOHN  M.,  his  vote  for  the 
Presidency  in  the  twenty-second 
Electoral  College,  241 ;  the  nom- 


inee for  the  Presidency  by  the 
"  Sound  Money "  Democrats, 
383;  his  popular  vote,  391. 

Parker,  Joel,  nominated  for  the 
Vice-Presidency  by  the  Labor 
Reformers,  227,  228. 

Pendleton,  George  H.,  nominated 
for  the  Vice-Presidency,  190 ; 
leads  the  "  Greenback  "  party, 
and  looks  for  the  Democratic 
nomination  to  the  Presidency, 
219. 

People's  party,  its  candidates  and 
platform  in  1892,  353~357 ;  its 
candidates  and  platform  in  1896, 
377-382;  its  candidates  and 
platform  in  1900,  397-403. 

Phelps,  John  W.,  nominated  for 
President  by  the  American  par- 
ty, 283. 

Pierce,  Franklin,  his  election  to 
the  Presidency,  115-129;  his 
nomination  at  Baltimore,  117, 
118;  the  Democrats  enthusiastic 
in  his  suppor*n9,r3€rfhis  pop- 
ular and  electoraTvote,  127 ;  his 
wanton  reopening  of  the  slavery 
issue,  127,  128 ;  his  appointment 
of  Judge  Campbell  to  his  cabinet 
excites  the  Native  Americans, 
128;  his  failure  to  secure  a  re- 
nomination,  129. 

Pinckney,  Charles  C.,  his  vote  for 
the  Presidency  in  the  third  Elec- 
toral College,  10,  n ;  in  the 
fourth,  15,  16;  his  first  defeat 
for  the  Presidency,  23,  24 ;  his 
second  defeat  for  the  Presi- 
dency, 26,  27. 

Pinckney,  Thomas,  his  vote  for 
the  Presidency  in  the  third  Elec- 
toral College,  10,  n. 

Platt,  Thomas  C.,  backs  his  col- 
league in  his  disagreement  with 
Garfield,  285 ;  a  controlling  factor 
in  the  nomination  of  Roosevelt 
for  the  Vice-Presidency  in  1900, 
412,  448. 

Polk,  James  K.,  defeated  for  the 
Vice-Presidency,  73  ;  his  election 
to  the  Presidency,  75-93;  his 
nomination  at  Baltimore,  79,  82  ; 
his  party's  platform,  82,  83 ;  his 


545 


INDEX 


popular  and  electoral  vote,  91 ; 
incidents  of  the  campaign,  91- 

93- 

Pomeroy,  Samuel  C.,  the  nominee 
of  the  American  party  for  the 
Vice-Presidency,  283 ;  receives 
the  Presidential  nomination  of 
the  American  Prohibition  Na- 
tional party,  304. 

Popular  vote,  the,  in  early  national 
contests  had  no  particular  sig- 
nificance, 10. 

Populists.     See  People's  party. 

Presidential  elections,  contested, 
the  law  regulating,  539~533- 

Presidents  and  Vice- Presidents  of 
the  United  States,  with  many 
facts  concerning  their  elections 
and  tenure  of  office,  524-529  ;  the 
law  regulating  the  Presidential 
succession,  527-529. 

Prohibition  party,  holds  a  national 
convention  in  1872  and  nomi- 
nates candidates  for  President 
and  Vice-President,  228;  its 
candidates  and  platform  in  1876, 
258—260;  its  candidates  and 
platform  in  1880,  282;  its  can- 
didates and  platform  in  1884, 
305-308;  its  candidates  and 
platform  in  1888,  329,  330;  its 
candidates  and  platform  in  1892, 
350—353 ;  its  candidates  and 
platform  in  1896,  385,  386;  the 
"  Broad  -  Gaugers  "  withdraw 
from,  386 ;  its  candidates  and 
platform  in  1900,  417—421 ;  op- 
posed to  the  re-election  of 
McKinley,  419-420. 

Prohibition  ("  Broad-Gauge  ")  par- 
ty, its  candidates  and  platform 
in  1896,  386-388. 

fiUAY,  MATTHEW  S.,  not  in  touch 
with  Harrison,  337;  favors  the 
nomination  of  Roosevelt  for  the 
Vice-Presidency  in  1900,  448. 

REED,  THOMAS  B.,  in  the  Re- 
publican National  Convention  of 
1896,  365- 

Reid,  Whitelaw,  defeated  for  the 
Vice-Presidency,  341-360. 


Republican  (Democratic)  party,  its 
birth  and  growth  during  Wash- 
ington's administration,  3,  7 ;  op- 
poses the  passage  of  the  Alien 
and  Sedition  laws,  12,  13;  its 
sixty  years'  dominance  initiated 
by  the  election  of  Jefferson,  21 ; 
divides  into  National  Republi- 
cans and  Democratic  Republi- 
cans, 53 ;  changes  its  name  to  the 
"  Democratic  party  "  during 
Jackson's  second  administra- 
tion, 52,  53 ;  Jackson's  mastery 
of,  60 ;  the  first  party  to  present  a 
national  party  platform,  70;  its 
platform  in  1844,  82,  83 ;  its  plat- 
form in  1848,  100-102;  its  plat- 
form in  1852,  118,  119;  demoral- 
ized by  the  repeal  of  the  Mis- 
souri Compromise,  127,  128,  130 ; 
its  platform  in  1856,  132-135; 
a  split  in  the  convention  at 
Charleston  in  1860  results  in 
the  nomination  of  two  tickets 
and  the  adoption  of  two  plat- 
forms, 166—173;  its  platform 
in  1864,  190,  191 ;  its  hope- 
less condition  at  the  close 
of  the  Rebellion,  203;  how  it 
failed  to  secure  the  leadership 
of  Grant,  203;  its  platform  in 
1868,  212-215;  its  platform  in 
1872,  237,  238 ;  after  its  nomina- 
tion of  Greeley  dissenters  hold  a 
convention  and  make  nomina- 
tions, which  are  declined,  238 ; 
platform  of  Democratic  dissent- 
ers in  1872,  238,  239 ;  the  party 
platform  in  1876,  254-257;  its 
platform  in  1880,  279-281 ;  its 
platform  in  1884,  294-299;  its 
platform  in  1888,  316—319;  its 
platform  in  1892,  345-350;  its 
platform  in  1896,  373-377;  its 
platform  in  1900,  423—428;  only 
two  Presidential  terms  since 
1860,  522,  controlled  only  two 
congresses  since  1860,  522-523. 

Republican  party,  its  forty  years' 
dominance,  21 ;  its  birth  in  1854, 
in  New  York,  136;  its  entrance 
into  national  politics  in  1856, 
130,  136-138;  its  first  platform, 


546, 


INDEX 


139,  140 ;  its  affiliations  with  the 
"  Know-Nothing  "  party,  156 ; 
its  convention  at  Chicago  in  1860 
the  ablest  that  had  ever  met  up  to 
that  time,  163,  164 ;  its  platform 
in  1860,  164-166 ;  its  platform  in 
1864,  187,  188;  why  Grant,  a 
pro-slavery  Democrat,  became 
its  candidate,  203;  its  platform 
in  1868,  208,  209  ;  its  platform  in 
1872,  235-237;  its  platform  in 
1876,  249—252 ;  its  subversion  of 
the  popular  will  in  making 
Hayes  President,  264-268;  its 
platform  in  1880,  274-277;  its 
platform  in  1884,  290-292;  its 
platform  in  1888,  320-325;  its 
platform  in  1892,  341-343;  its 
platform  in  1896,  367-371;  its 
platform  in  1900,  412-417. 

Richardson,  J.  D.,  permanent 
president  of  the  Democratic  Con- 
vention of  1900,  421. 

Rodney,  Daniel,  defeated  for  the 
Vice-Presidency,  36,  37. 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  seconds  the 
nomination  of  McKinley,  411; 
nominated  for  the  Vice-Presi- 
dency by  the  Republican  party 
in  1900,  412;  opposed  to  his 
nomination^  412,  448;  as  a  dele- 
gate declines  to  have  his  vote 
recorded  for  himself,  412;  suc- 
ceeds to  the  Presidency  after  the 
death  of  McKinley,  445 ;  declares 
to  continue  McKinley 's  policy, 
446 ;  youngest  of  all  Presidents, 
446  ;  his  many  offices,  447 ;  choice 
of  the  Western  delegates  for  the 
Presidency,  448 ;  added  much 
strength  to  the  Republican  ticket, 
448. 

Ross,  James,  defeated  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency,  34,  35. 

Rush,  Richard,  defeated  for  the 
Vice-Presidency,  36,  37 ;  his  sec- 
ond defeat  for  the  same  office,  51. 

Russell,  John,  nominated  for  the 
Vice-Presidency  by  the  Prohibi- 
tion party,  228. 

Rutledge,  John,  his  vote  for  the 
Presidency  in  the  first  Electoral 
College,  3,  4. 


ST.  JOHN,  JOHN  P.,  receives  the 
Presidential  nomination  of  the 
Prohibition  party,  305 ;  his  pop- 
ular vote,  308,  309;  at  the  Na- 
tional Prohibition  Convention  in 
1888,  329 ;  at  that  of  1892,  350. 

Sanford,  Nathan,  defeated  for  the 
Vice-Presidency,  43. 

Scott,  General  Winfield,  regarded 
as  the  first  soldier  of  the  Repub- 
lic, 66 ;  his  fondness  for  writing 
letters  loses  him  the  Presidential 
nomination,  68 ;  his  invasion  of 
Mexico,  95,  96;  defeated  for  the 
Presidency,  115—129;  his  nomi- 
nation at  Baltimore,  120,  121. 

Sergeant,  John,  defeated  for  the 
Vice-Presidency,  53,  56,  57. 

Sewall,  Arthur,  defeated  for  the 
Vice-Presidency,  373—394 ;  his 
electoral  vote,  392. 

Seward,  William  H.,  his  ability 
and  character,  and  how  he  failed 
to  be  nominated  for  the  Presi- 
dency, 154-162. 

Seymour,  Horatio,  defeated  for  the 
Presidency,  202—220 ;  his  nomi- 
nation at  New  York,  211-216; 
his  popular  and  electoral  vote, 
217,  218. 

Sherman,  John,  a  candidate  for 
the  Republican  nomination  of 
President  in  1880,  288,  289. 

Smith,  Gerrit,  nominated  in  1848 
for  the  Presidency  by  the  Liberty 
League  party  and  the  Industrial 
Congress  party,  in. 

Smith,  Greene  Clay,  is  nominated 
for  the  Presidency  by  the  Prohi- 
bitionists, 258. 

Smith,  William,  defeated  for  the 
Vice-Presidency,  51 ;  again  de- 
feated for  the  same  office,  63, 
64. 

Social  Democratic  party,  its  can- 
didates and  platform  in  1900, 
406-407. 

Socialists'  Labor  party,  its  candi- 
dates and  platform  in  1892,  357, 
358 ;  its  candidates  and  platform 
in  1896.388-390;  its  candidates 
and  platform  in  1900,404—406; 
sustains  Typographical  Union 


547 


INDEX 


No.  6  in  its  warfare  with  the 
New  York  Sun,  405. 

Southgate,  James  A.,  the  Vice- 
Presidential  nominee  of  the 
"  Broad  -  Gauge  "  Prohibition 
part}-,  386. 

Stevens,  Thaddeus,  how  he  carried 
the  Whig  convention  for  Harri- 
son, 68. 

Stevenson,  Adlai  E.,  his  election  to 
the  Vice-Presidency  in  1892, 
345—360 ;  nominated  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency  in  1900,  423,  429. 

Stewart,  G.  T.,  nominated  for  the 
Vice-Presidency  by  the  Prohi- 
bitionists, 258. 

Stockton,  Richard,  defeated  for  the 
Vice-Presidency,  36,  37. 

Streeter,  Alson  J.,  receives  the 
Presidential  nomination  of  the 
Union  Labor  party,  325 ;  his  pop- 
ular vote,  333. 

Summary  of  the  popular  and 
electoral  votes  for  President  and 
Vice- President  with  their  States 
and  parties,  523-527. 

Swallow,  Rev.  S.  C.,  nominated  for 
the  Presidency  by  the  United 
Christian  party  in  1900,  410. 

Swett,  Leonard,  Lincoln's  closest 
friend,  works  for  his  nomination, 
157- 

TAMMANY  HALL,  its  opposition  to 

Tilden  causes  its  rejection  from 
the  Democratic  National  Con- 
vention of  1880,  278 ;  its  attempt 
to  control  the  Democratic  Na- 
tional Convention  in  1884,  292, 
293;  its  delegates  oppose  the 
unanimous  nomination  of  Cleve- 
land, but  welcome  that  of  Hen- 
dricks  with  the  heartiest  cheers, 
294 ;  and  the  Sun,  its  organ,  de- 
feated Cleveland  for  the  Presi- 
dency in  1888,  315,  335,  336 ;  its 
protest  ignored  in  the  national 
convention  of  1892,  344;  cause 
of  Hancock's  defeat  for  the 
Presidency  in  1880,  278,  283; 
cause  of  Cleveland's  defeat  in 


1888,335-336. 
Taylor.    >;achary,   hi 


his  election   to 


the  Presidency,  94,  114 ;  his  cam- 
paign in  Mexico,  95 ;  his  vote  in 
the  convention,  104 ;  sends  the 
letter  notifying  him  of  his  nomi- 
nation to  the  dead-letter  office, 
106 ;  episodes  of  the  nominating 
convention,  107;  birth  of  the  Na- 
tive American  party  during  this 
campaign,  no;  his  popular  and 
electoral  vote,  112;  how  Cor  win 
helped  him,  113,  114  ;  his  cabinet 
and  its  policy,  115;  his  death, 
116. 

Tazewell,  L.  W.,  his  vote  in  the 
fourteenth  Electoral  College  for 
Vice-President,  73. 

Tellfair,  Edward,  his  vote  for  the 
Presidency  in  the  first  Electoral 
College,  3,  4. 

Texas,  the  question  of  its  annexa- 
tion, 94,  95. 

Third  party  representatives  in  the 
House  and  Senate,  difficult  to 
classify,  456. 

Thompson,  A.  M.,  nominated  for 
the  Vice-Presidency  by  the  Pro- 
hibition party,  282. 

Thurman,  Allen  G.,  a  candidate 
for  the  Presidential  nomination 
of  the  Anti-Monopoly  party,  299  ; 
his  defeat  for  the  Vice-Presiden- 
cy, 316-336. 

Thurston,  John  M.,  permanent 
president  of  the  Republican 
National  Convention  of  1896, 
366 ;  at  the  Republican  National 
Convention  of  1900,  411. 

Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  how  Grant 
would  have  enforced  the  decision 
of  the  Electoral  Commission  in 
the  case  of  his  disputed  election, 
223 ;  his  defeat  for  the  Presiden- 
cy, 244—267 ;  his  character  and 
reputation,  252 ;  earnestness  of 
the  campaign,  261 ;  his  popular 
vote,  262 ;  Congress  creates  the 
Electoral  Commission  to  decide 
the  election  of,  263;  his  elec- 
toral vote,  as  determined  by  the 
Electoral  Commission,  264 ;  his 
weakness  in  protecting  his  own 
interests,  265,  266 ;  his  defeat 
attributed  to  Conkling,  who  grati- 


548 


INDEX 


fied  a  grudge  caused  by  Tilden's 
defeat  of  Chase  for  the  Demo- 
cratic nomination  for  the  Presi- 
dency in  1868,  268,  269 ;  his  nom- 
ination opposed  by  Tammany 
Hall  in  the  Democratic  National 
Convention  of  1880,  278. 

Tompkins,  Daniel  D.,  his  first  elec- 
tion to  the  Vice-Presidency,  34, 
35;  his- second  election  to  the 
Vice-Presidency,  35,  37. 

Towne,  Charles  A.,  nominated  for 
the  Vice-Presidency  by  the  Peo- 
ple' s  party  in  1900,  400. 

Tyler,  John,  defeated  for  the 
Vice-Presidency,  63,  64 ;  his  elec- 
tion to  the  Vice-Presidency,  65- 
74;  succeeds  to  the  Presidency 
on  the  death  of  Harrison,  74 ; 
his  wrecking  of  the  Whig  party, 
75-77;  his  life  after  his  retire- 
ment, 77;  approves  the  bill  an- 
nexing Texas  a  few  days  before 
the  inauguration  of  Polk,  94. 

UNITED    CHRISTIAN   party,    its 

candidates  and  platform  in  1900, 

409-410. 
Union  Labor  party,  its  candidates 

and  platform  in  1888,  325-327. 
United  Labor  party,  its  candidates 

and  platform  in  1888,  327-329 ; 

its  candidates  and  platform  in 

1896,  388-390. 

VALLANDIGHAM,  CLEMENT  L., 

foremost  in  organizing  the  Liber- 
al Republican  party,  229. 

Van  Buren,  Martin,  defeated  for 
the  Vice-Presidency,  43 ;  his 
election  to  the  Vice-Presidency, 
56,  57 ;  his  election  to  the  Presi- 
dency. 59-64 ;  and  the  birth  of 
the  Whig  party,  59  ;  his  nomina- 
tion dictated  by  Jackson,  60 ; 
the  campaign  one  of  intense  bit- 
terness, 61,  62;  his  popular  and 
electoral  vote,  62,  63,  64  ;  defeated 
for  the  Presidency,  65-74  '•  causes 
of  his  unpopularity,  68,  69 ;  his 
defeat  for  the  Presidency,  94-1 14. 

Variations  in  the  political  control 
of  Congress,  517-523. 


WADE,  BENJAMIN  F..  a  candidate 
for  the  nomination  of  Vice-Presi- 
dent,  an  example  of  the  swift 
mutations  in  American  politics, 

2IO,    211. 

Waitt,  William  S.,  nominated  in 
1848  for  the  Vice-Presidency  by 
the  Industrial  Congress  party, 
in. 

Wakefield,  W.  H.  T.,  receives  the 
Vice-Presidential  nomination  of 
the  United  Labor  party,  327. 

Walker,  James  B.,  nominated  for 
the  Presidency  by  the  American 
National  party,  260. 

Washington,  George,  his  first 
election  to  the  Presidency,  1-4; 
he  received  no  formal  nomina- 
tion, 2;  a  pronounced  Federal- 
ist, 2;  opposition  to  his  election, 
2,  3;  vote  of  the  first  Electoral 
College,  3,  4 ;  his  second  election 
to  the  Presidency,  4-^6 ;  vote  of 
the  second  Electoral  College, 5, 6 ; 
regarded  as  the  richest  man  in 
the  country,  7 ;  his  vote  for  the 
Presidency  in  the  third  Electoral 
College,  10,  II. 

Watson,  Thomas  E.,  the  nominee 
of  the  People's  party  for  the 
Vice-Presidency,  378;  his  popu- 
lar and  electoral  vote,  391,  392. 

Weaver,  James  B.,  "  Greenback  " 
candidate  for  the  Presidency, 
281 ;  receives  the  People's  party 
nomination  for  the  Presidency, 
353 »  his  popular  and  electoral 
vote,  359. 

Webster,  Daniel,  defeated  for  the 
Presidency,  59-64. 

Weed,  Thurlow,  leads  the  fight  for 
Seward  in  the  Republican  Na- 
tional Convention  of  1860,  157 ; 
disappointed  at  Lincoln's  nom- 
ination, he  refuses  to  name  a 
candidate  for  the  Vice-Presi- 
dency, 162. 

West,  A.  M.,  receives  the  Vice- 
Presidential  nomination  of  the 
National  ("  Greenback  ")  party, 
301. 

Wheeler,  William  A.  his  election 
to  the  Vice-Presidency,  249-269. 


549 


INDEX 


Whig  party,  birth  of,  59;  wreck 
of,  by  Tyler,  75-77 ;  its  nomina- 
tion of  Clay,  89,  90 ;  its  platform 
for  1844,  84 ;  its  lack  of  harmony 
in  campaign  of  1848,  103-106 ;  its 
platform  in  the  campaign  of 
1852,  121-123;  makes  its  final 
battle,  128;  in  1856  nominates 
the  candidates  of  the  American 
National  Union,  143 ;  its  plat- 
form, 143-145. 

White,  Hugh  L.,  defeated  for  the 
Presidency,  63,  64. 

White,  Senator,  of  California, 
permanent  president  of  the  Demo- 
cratic National  Convention  of 
1896,  371. 

Whitney,  William  C.,  whose  leader- 
ship secured  the  third  Presiden- 
tial nomination  of  Cleveland  in 
1898,  344. 

"  Wide- A  wakes, "  the,  description 
of,  174,  175. 


Wilcox,    Ansley,    Roosevelt   takes 

oath    of   office   as   President   in 

house  of,  445. 
Wilkins,  William,  defeated  for  the 

Vice-Presidency,  56,  57. 
Wilson,  Henry,  his  nomination  for 

the   Vice-Presidency,    235,    241 ; 

how   his    name    was    changed, 

235. 

Wing,  Simon,  nominated  for  the 
Presidency  by  the  Socialists'  La- 
bor party,  357 ;  his  popular  vote, 

359- 

Wirt,  William,  the  nominee  for 
President  of  the  Anti-Mason 
party,  53  ;  his  vote  in  the  twelfth 
Electoral  College,  56,  57. 

Wooley,  John  C.,  nominated  for 
the  Vice-Presidency  by  the 
United  Christian  party  in  1900, 
410 ;  nominated  for  the  Presi- 
dency by  the  Prohibition  party, 
417;  his  popular  vote,  437. 


SUPPLEMENTARY    INDEX 


BRYAN,  WILLIAM  J.,  nominated 
for  President  by  the  Demo- 
cratic party  in  1908,  503. 

CANNON,  JOSEPH  G.,  chosen 
president  of  the  Republican 
Convention  in  Chicago,  1904, 

455- 

Chafin,  Eugene  W.,  nominated 
for  President  by  the  Prohibi- 
tion party  in  1908,  485. 

Clayton,  Henry  D.,  chairman 
Democratic  National  Conven- 
tion of  1908,  503. 

Continental  party,  474. 

DAVIS,  SENATOR,  nominated  for 
Vice-President  by  the  Demo- 
cratic Convention  in  1904,  468. 

Debs,  Eugene  V.,  nominated  for 
the  Presidency  by  the  Social- 
ist party  in  1904,  450;  in  1908, 

479- 

Democratic  party,  its  candidates 
and  platform  in  1904,  464- 
474;  in  1908,  503-514- 

FAIRBANKS,  CHARLES  WARREN, 
nominated  for  Vice- President 
by  the  Republican  party  in 
1904,  456. 

GILLHAUS,  AUGUST,  nominated 
for  President  by  the  Socialist 
Labor  party  in  1908,  483. 

Graves,  John  Temple,  nominated 
for  Vice- President  by  the  In- 
dependence party  in  1908, 487. 

HANFORD,  BEN,  nominated  for 
Vice-President  by  the  Social- 
ist party  in  1908,  479. 


Hearst,  William  Randolph,  his 
aggressive  and  expensive 
methods,  465;  leader  of  In- 
dependence party,  478,  486. 

Hisgen,  Thomas  L.,  nominated 
for  President  by  the  Inde- 
pendence party  in  1908,  486. 

INDEPENDENCE  party,  its  candi- 
dates and  platform  in  1908, 
486-492. 

KERN,  JOHN  W.,  nominated  for 
Vice-President  by  the  Demo- 
cratic party  in  1908,  503. 

LINCOLN  party,  474. 

Lodge,  Henry  C.,  chairman  Re- 
publican National  Convention 
of  1908,  493. 

MUNRO,  DONALD  L.,  nominated 
for  Vice  -  President  by  the 
Socialist  Labor  party  in  1908, 
483- 

NATIONAL  LIBERTY  party,  474. 

PARKER,  ALTON  B.,  nominated 
for  President  by  the  Demo- 
cratic party  in  1904,  467. 

People's  party,  its  candidates 
and  platform  in  1904,  463, 
464. 

Popular  and  electoral  vote  for 
President  in  1904,  476;  in 
1908,  516. 

Populists  party,  its  candidates 
and  platform  in  1908,  478,  479. 

Prohibition  party,  its  candidates 
and  platform  in  1904,  461, 
462;  in  1908,  484-486. 


551 


SUPPLEMENTARY    INDEX 


REPUBLICAN  party,  its  candi- 
dates and  platform  in  1904, 
456-461;  in  1908,  494-503 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  nominated 
for  President  by  Republican 
party  in  1904,  456;  dominated 
Republican  convention  in  1 908 
492. 

Root,  Elihu,  temporary  chair- 
man of  the  Republican  Con- 
vention in  1904,  454. 

SHERMAN,  JAMES  S.,  nominated 
for  Vice- President  by  the  Re- 
publican party  in  1908,  494. 

Socialist  Labor  party,  its  can- 
didates and  platform  in  1908, 
483-484. 

Socialist    party,    its    candidates 


and    platform    in    1904,    450, 
451;  in  1908,  479-482. 

TAFT,  JUDGE  WILLIAM  HOWARD, 
nominated  for  President  by  the 
Republican  party  in  1908,  493. 

Tribbles,  Thomas  F.,  nominated 
for  Vice- President  by  the 
Populists  in  1904,  464. 

WATKINS,  AARON  S.,  nominated 
for  Vice- President  by  the 
Prohibition  party  in  1908,  485. 

Watson,  Thomas  E.,  nominated 
for  President  by  the  Populists 
in  1904,  464;  in  1908,  478. 

Williams,  Samuel,  nominated  for 
Vice-President  by  the  Popu- 
lists' Convention  in  1908,478. 


THE    END 


14  DAY  USL 

*  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  c 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall 


REC'D  LI 


HEC.CIR.SEP27  77 


RBI  •::;: 


78 


I 


YC  09122 


CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


